PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics

The plastid genome (plastome) represents an indispensable molecular resource for studying plant phylogeny and evolution. Although plastome size is much smaller than that of nuclear genomes, accurately and efficiently annotating and utilizing plastome sequences remain challenging. Therefore, a stream...

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Main Authors: Na-Na Zhang, Gregory W. Stull, Xue-Jie Zhang, Shou-Jin Fan, Ting-Shuang Yi, Xiao-Jian Qu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-07-01
Series:Plant Diversity
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265925000915
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author Na-Na Zhang
Gregory W. Stull
Xue-Jie Zhang
Shou-Jin Fan
Ting-Shuang Yi
Xiao-Jian Qu
author_facet Na-Na Zhang
Gregory W. Stull
Xue-Jie Zhang
Shou-Jin Fan
Ting-Shuang Yi
Xiao-Jian Qu
author_sort Na-Na Zhang
collection DOAJ
description The plastid genome (plastome) represents an indispensable molecular resource for studying plant phylogeny and evolution. Although plastome size is much smaller than that of nuclear genomes, accurately and efficiently annotating and utilizing plastome sequences remain challenging. Therefore, a streamlined phylogenomic pipeline spanning plastome annotation, phylogenetic reconstruction and comparative genomics would greatly facilitate research utilizing this important organellar genome. Here, we develop PlastidHub, a novel web application employing innovative tools to analyze plastome sequences. In comparison with existing tools, key novel functionalities in PlastidHub include: (1) standardization of quadripartite structure; (2) improvement of annotation flexibility and consistency; (3) quantitative assessment of annotation completeness; (4) diverse extraction modes for canonical and specialized sequences; (5) intelligent screening of molecular markers for biodiversity studies; (6) gene-level visual comparison of structural variations and annotation completeness. PlastidHub features cloud-based web applications that do not require users to install, update, or maintain tools; detailed help documents including user guides, test examples, a static pop-up prompt box, and dynamic pop-up warning prompts when entering unreasonable parameter values; batch processing capabilities for all tools; intermediate results for secondary use; and easy-to-operate task flows between file upload and download. A key feature of PlastidHub is its interrelated task-based user interface design. Give that PlastidHub is easy to use without specialized computational skills or resources, this new platform should be widely used among botanists and evolutionary biologists, improving and expediting research employing the plastome. PlastidHub is available at https://www.plastidhub.cn.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2468-2659
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
record_format Article
series Plant Diversity
spelling doaj-art-7c2ab304b88c439db8a3b2bf88ed9af52025-08-20T03:25:55ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Plant Diversity2468-26592025-07-0147454456010.1016/j.pld.2025.05.005PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomicsNa-Na Zhang0Gregory W. Stull1Xue-Jie Zhang2Shou-Jin Fan3Ting-Shuang Yi4Xiao-Jian Qu5College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China; Dongying Institute, Shandong Normal University, Dongying 257092, ChinaDepartment of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USACollege of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China; Dongying Institute, Shandong Normal University, Dongying 257092, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China; Dongying Institute, Shandong Normal University, Dongying 257092, China; Corresponding author. College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji'nan 250358, China.Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China; Corresponding author.College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China; Dongying Institute, Shandong Normal University, Dongying 257092, China; Corresponding author. College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250358, China.The plastid genome (plastome) represents an indispensable molecular resource for studying plant phylogeny and evolution. Although plastome size is much smaller than that of nuclear genomes, accurately and efficiently annotating and utilizing plastome sequences remain challenging. Therefore, a streamlined phylogenomic pipeline spanning plastome annotation, phylogenetic reconstruction and comparative genomics would greatly facilitate research utilizing this important organellar genome. Here, we develop PlastidHub, a novel web application employing innovative tools to analyze plastome sequences. In comparison with existing tools, key novel functionalities in PlastidHub include: (1) standardization of quadripartite structure; (2) improvement of annotation flexibility and consistency; (3) quantitative assessment of annotation completeness; (4) diverse extraction modes for canonical and specialized sequences; (5) intelligent screening of molecular markers for biodiversity studies; (6) gene-level visual comparison of structural variations and annotation completeness. PlastidHub features cloud-based web applications that do not require users to install, update, or maintain tools; detailed help documents including user guides, test examples, a static pop-up prompt box, and dynamic pop-up warning prompts when entering unreasonable parameter values; batch processing capabilities for all tools; intermediate results for secondary use; and easy-to-operate task flows between file upload and download. A key feature of PlastidHub is its interrelated task-based user interface design. Give that PlastidHub is easy to use without specialized computational skills or resources, this new platform should be widely used among botanists and evolutionary biologists, improving and expediting research employing the plastome. PlastidHub is available at https://www.plastidhub.cn.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265925000915AnnotationComparative genomicsPlastid phylogenomicsSequence processingVisualization
spellingShingle Na-Na Zhang
Gregory W. Stull
Xue-Jie Zhang
Shou-Jin Fan
Ting-Shuang Yi
Xiao-Jian Qu
PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
Plant Diversity
Annotation
Comparative genomics
Plastid phylogenomics
Sequence processing
Visualization
title PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
title_full PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
title_fullStr PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
title_full_unstemmed PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
title_short PlastidHub: An integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
title_sort plastidhub an integrated analysis platform for plastid phylogenomics and comparative genomics
topic Annotation
Comparative genomics
Plastid phylogenomics
Sequence processing
Visualization
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265925000915
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