FlyAtlas 2: a new version of the Drosophila melanogaster expression atlas with RNA-Seq, miRNA-Seq and sex-specific data

Abstract

FlyAtlas 2 (www.flyatlas2.org) is part successor, part complement to the FlyAtlas database and web application for studying the expression of the genes of Drosophila melanogaster in different tissues of adults and larvae. Although generated in the same lab with the same fly line raised on the same diet as FlyAtlas, the FlyAtlas2 resource employs a completely new set of expression data based on RNA-Seq, rather than microarray analysis, and so it allows the user to obtain information for the expression of different transcripts of a gene. Furthermore, the data for somatic tissues are now available for both male and female adult flies, allowing studies of sexual dimorphism. Gene coverage has been extended by the inclusion of microRNAs and many of the RNA genes included in Release 6 of the Drosophila reference genome. The web interface has been modified to accommodate the extra data, but at the same time has been adapted for viewing on small mobile devices. Users also have access to the RNA-Seq reads displayed alongside the annotated Drosophila genome in the (external) UCSC browser, and are able to link out to the previous FlyAtlas resource to compare the data obtained by RNA-Seq with that obtained using microarrays.