NTDB: a curated database of natural transformation machinery and regulatory genes in prokaryotes.

NTDB catalogs 118 naturally transformable prokaryotic species, 1072 transformation-associated genes, and 10 DNA uptake motifs, providing a comprehensive resource for natural transformation research.

• Why it matters: Understanding natural transformation is crucial because it drives evolution, adaptation, and the spread of traits like antibiotic resistance in prokaryotes, yet dedicated data resources have been lacking.
• What they did: The database integrates experimentally validated data, homology-based searches across 12,310 strains, and motif analysis, along with online tools for predicting transformation genes and motifs.
• The result: NTDB enables mechanistic studies of transformation machinery and competence regulation, supporting research into microbial evolution, gene transfer, and clinical trait dissemination.