Ori-Finder 2022: A Comprehensive Web Server for Prediction and Analysis of Bacterial Replication Origins

Abstract

The replication of DNA is a complex biological process that is essential for life. Bacterial DNA replication is initiated at genomic loci referred to as replication origins (oriCs). Integrating the Z-curve method, DnaA box distribution, and comparative genomic analysis, we developed a web server to predict bacterial oriCs in 2008 called Ori-Finder, which is helpful to clarify the characteristics of bacterial oriCs. The oriCs of hundreds of sequenced bacterial genomes have been annotated in the genome reports using Ori-Finder and the predicted results have been deposited in DoriC, a manually curated database of oriCs. This has facilitated large-scale data mining of functional elements in oriCs and strand-biased analysis. Here, we describe Ori-Finder 2022 with updated prediction framework, interactive visualization module, new analysis module, and user-friendly interface. More species-specific indicator genes and functional elements of oriCs are integrated into the updated framework, which has also been redesigned to predict oriCs in draft genomes. The interactive visualization module displays more genomic information related to oriCs and their functional elements. The analysis module includes regulatory protein annotation, repeat sequence discovery, homologous oriC search, and strand-biased analyses. The redesigned interface provides additional customization options for oriC prediction. Ori-Finder 2022 is freely available at http://tubic.tju.edu.cn/Ori-Finder/ and https://tubic.org/Ori-Finder/.