BOL

dbCAN is a web server and DataBase for automated Carbohydrate-active enzyme ANnotation, funded by the BioEnergy Science Center of the DOE. Similar resources on the web include CAZy database and CAT. All data in dbCAN are generated based on the family classification from CAZy database while it has the following unique features compared with CAZy database and CAT:

• dbCAN provides the capability of automated and comprehensive CAZyme annotation of a given genome submitted by the user;
• dbCAN provides an explicitly defined signature domain for each and every CAZyme family along with its location in all the relevant full-length CAZyme proteins in all sequenced genomes;
• dbCAN provides the most complete set of metagenomic CAZyme genes published so far and represents the first step towards discovering novel CAZyme catalysts in metagenomes;
• dbCAN provides a subfamily classification of the existing CAZyme families based on sequence similarities;
• dbCAN make all pre-computed data freely available to the public, including sequence alignments, hidden markov models (HMMs) and phylogenies of the signature domain regions in each and every CAZyme family and subfamily.

dbCAN is updated regularly when CAZy database created new families based on latest literature.