Metagrowth: a new resource for the building of metabolic hypotheses in microbiology

Metagrowth is a new type of knowledge base developed to guide the experimental studies of culture conditions of obligate parasitic bacteria. We have gathered biological evidences giving possible clues to the development of the axenic (i.e. 'cell-free') growth of obligate parasites from various sources including published literature, genomic sequence information, metabolic databases and transporter databases. The database entries are composed of those evidences and specific hypotheses derived from them. Currently, 200 entries are available for Rickettsia prowazekii, Rickettsia conorii, Tropheryma whipplei, Treponema pallidum, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Coxiella burnetii. The web interface of Metagrowth helps users to design new axenic culture media eventually suitable for those bacteria. Metagrowth is accessible at http://igs-server.cnrs-mrs.fr/axenic/.