CREST

CREST (Classification Resources for Environmnetal Sequence Tags) is a collection of resources for taxonomical classification of high throughput sequencing. CREST utilises a curated taxonomy derived from taxonomic annotation of a global alignment of phylogenetic marker genes. Currently, we have made two databases available for this purpose: SilvaMod and Greengenes, both using the SSU rRNA gene as phylogenetic marker. SilvaMod was derived from manual modification of the SILVA nr SSU Ref 106 and Greengenes was directly derived from the Greengenes 2011 release (see Download for details).

Here, you can submit your environmental sequences online to a two-step classification process. First, they are aligned to the selected reference database classification using MEGABLAST and then classification is carried out using the LCAClassifier. Alternatively, classification can be done using the standalone LCAClassifier application or MEGAN.

If you use CREST or the LCAClassifier in your research, please cite:
Lanzén A , Jørgensen SL, Huson D, Gorfer M, Grindhaug SH, Jonassen I, Øvreås L, Urich T (2012) CREST - Classification Resources for Environmental Sequence Tags, PLoS ONE 7:e49334.