Working Group 2 strives towards developing a format to capture ”Minimum Data for Matching (MDM)”, consisting of reads and minimum metadata.
The MDM should be deposited and made globally and universally accessible as soon as available. The MDM may or may not be accompanied by assemblies and/or annotation and/or additional metadata. If not provided with initial submission, these may be added later by the submitter, or by some agreed upon 3rd party. Ideally, any MDM provided for purposes of searching the GMI databases should immediately also become a deposit available for searching by later submitters.
Any matches from the MDM search should be reported to searcher and to the relevant GMI Participants. The data layer is provided by The International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration INSDC and is therefore both international and public.
The search and analytical layers may be provided by INSDC members or by other parties. For research purposes it is fine to have a variety of tools and searches. But in order to provide a coordinated GMI there must be a more centrally controlled searching and reporting protocol that official sites adhere to and to whom the food safety agencies submit, which is much more limited.
See GMI roadmap from May 2016: GMI working group status/work plan
GMI working group statusGMI envisions a global system of DNA genome databases for microbial and infectious disease identification and diagnostics. Such a system will benefit those tackling individual problems at the frontline, clinicians, veterinarian, etc., as well as policy-makers, regulators, and industry.
By enabling access to this global resource, a professional response on health threats will be within reach of all countries with basic laboratory infrastructure.
