Figure 1

Querying the tandem repeats database 1A: bacterial tandem repeats main page Bacteria species are listed in alphabetical order. The name of the strain used for sequencing is indicated after the species name and before the genome size (expressed in megabase). The rightmost figure indicates the density (per Mb) of tandem repeat arrays longer than 100 bp. The search for tandem repeats can be restricted according to a combination of criteria, including total array length (L), repeat unit length (U), number of repeats (N), internal conservation of the repeats (V), position (expressed in kilobase) on the genome (Pos), GC content of the array (%GC), strand bias (B). Three different biases can be evaluated, GC bias, AT bias and Purine-Pyrimidine bias. The bias reflects strand asymmetry of the repeat sequence. The search output can either present a list of characteristics of the tandem repeats fulfilling criteria, ordered according to their position on the genome, or classify the tandem repeats according to a selected structural parameter. 1B: examples of queries in three genomes All tandem repeat arrays spanning more than 100 base-pairs are classified according to repeat unit length. The query was run on Buchnera sp. (left panel), Yersinia pestis (middle panel) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (right panel).