The available information for over 4000 strains represented by 16S rRNA sequences, much of which cannot be shown in the phylogenetic tree owing to space limitation, is presented in a single large table containing 15 fields.

Using the search function is quite simple.

The strain data are presented in columns. Type or paste a search expression in the relevant search box, multiple boxes may be used sequentially or simultaneously; records that do not contain the term(s) are hidden, the positive records remaining visible. When finished, delete the expression with the ′Reset′ button to re-show the whole table.

The search term is case insensitive, and may be a whole or partial word. Thus (taking the generic name Gloeobacter as an example):
′gloeob′, ′gloeobacter′ or ′Gloeobacter′ (without the tick marks) find all strains of the genus, whereas ′gloeo′ finds additional genera such as Gloeothece, Gloeocapsa... whose name starts with that term. In order to search for a specific epithet, it is necessary to type the generic name in full, followed by the species name; the same rules as above apply, thus ′Gloeobacter v′ will find all strains of Gloeobacter violaceus.

For genome size, the data are presented for strains represented by complete genome sequences only, the rest being shown as ′n/a′ because we cannot be certain of the size of draft genomes, and many strains are represented by 16S rRNA sequences obtained by specific PCR. A dropdown menu permits the choice of searching for values greater than, equal to, or less than, a chosen size. It is important to select an item from the dropdown, before entering a value in the ′size′ search box. Dropdown menus could be added for other strictly numeric columns such as length and G+C content of the 16S rRNA gene; however, length is not informative, since it depends on the primers chosen for PCR, and the G+C content varies little across the tree.

The results may be printed via the ′print′ option of the browser; landscape and tabloid paper size are best for this wide table. Even if the page has been scrolled, the search box and search term are visible in the printed version.

Please note that the accession number of Microcystis sp. 0824 is given as BD&&00000000, because the first 4 letters are recognized as illegal by our web host; the 2 && characters should be replaced by SM if the accession is needed.