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SILVA: a comprehensive online resource for quality checked and aligned ribosomal RNA sequence data compatible with ARB

SILVA, an online resource of quality-checked, aligned rRNA sequence databases for Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya, compatible with ARB software.

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SILVA: a comprehensive online resource for quality checked and aligned ribosomal RNA sequence data compatible with ARB

By Elmar Pruesse, C. Quast, K. Knittel et al.Nucleic Acids Research
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SILVA is a comprehensive online resource that provides quality-checked and aligned ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence databases for the Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya domains, compatible with the widely used ARB software suite. It was built to address the difficulty of maintaining curated rRNA databases amid a rapid increase in publicly available sequence data. All sequences are screened for anomalies and annotated with rich contextual metadata, multiple taxonomic classifications, and the latest validly described nomenclature.

The resource offers two precompiled, ARB-compatible datasets: the Reference (Ref) sets of high-quality, nearly full-length sequences suited to in-depth phylogenetic analysis and probe design, and the comprehensive Parc sets containing all public rRNA sequences longer than 300 nucleotides for biodiversity studies. At its release 91 in August 2007, SILVA hosted 547,521 sequences split into 461,823 small-subunit and 85,689 large-subunit rRNAs, giving researchers a standardized, curated foundation for large-scale rRNA analysis.

Abstract

rRNA gene sequencing is the standard method for phylogenetic reconstruction and quantifying microbial diversity, but rapidly growing public data has strained curated databases. SILVA offers a central web resource of up-to-date, quality-controlled, aligned rRNA sequences from all three domains, each checked for anomalies and enriched with contextual and taxonomic information. Two ARB-compatible datasets are provided: near-full-length Ref sets for phylogenetics and comprehensive Parc sets for biodiversity analysis. Release 91 held 547,521 sequences.

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ribosomal RNAsequence databasemicrobial diversityphylogeneticsARBtaxonomy
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