Planet Microbe

Oceanographic research expeditions provide a rich source of data comprised of next generation sequencing, microscopy, and physical/chemical environmental data to explore ocean biodiversity. As collection bottles and chemical sensors emerge from the depths of the ocean, research teams work through the night processing their key component of this oceanographic treasure. Despite careful efforts to share data among collaborators, the moment each sample emerges is often the last time these rich data sources are together. Our lab is developing Planet Microbe, a federated resource of database connections to enable data discovery and open data sharing for historical and on-going oceanography and geobiology sequencing efforts. Planet Microbe will provide the community with a platform that partners ‘omics data and analyses with any relevant contextual and environmental data available. Initially, we are developing a prototype using data from Hawai‘i Ocean Time-series (HOT) and Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS), both of which produce extensive ‘omics data sets (available via iMicrobe) and oceanographic data (available via BCO-DMO) and are of great value to the broader science community. Connections between data sets will be derived through automated distance-based algorithms, and refined through collaborative hand-curation. Once the prototype has be validated, additional ‘omics data sets from NSF-funded STCs including: C-DEBI and C-MORE will be retrieved from disparate ‘omic repositories (e.g., JGI/IMG, MG-RAST, NCBI, EBI) and queryable through a recommendation algorithm fueled and refined by scientific queries from past users. Finally, data in Planet Microbe will leverage existing EarthCube funded projects to expand beyond BCO-DMO such as: GeoLink, which also includes Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) and International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), SeaView to share collected resources and create a “microbe” user scenario, and GeoDeepDive to discover dark data in historical publications. Through this concerted effort, Planet Microbe will become the go-to site for oceanographic data discovery and integration.