Abstract

Culling of excess carbon dioxide from our environment is one of the major challenges to scientific communities. Many physical, chemical and biological methods have been practiced to overcome this problem. The biological means of CO₂ fixation using various microorganisms is gaining importance because database of their substantial role in reversing global warming. Carbon dioxide utilizing strain database (CSD) presents a comprehensive overview of microorganisms involved in biological fixation of carbon dioxide. As a part of this work, the wealth of information on CO₂ utilizing strains was first collected and was then managed within four classes, that is, microorganisms, genus listing, mechanisms and literature. The first two classes consolidate information regarding the microbial genus and species, while the later two provide information regarding the CO₂ fixing pathways and the taxonomic details of these organisms. The database also holds the current information about the issue. CSD can be used to gain information related to CO₂ fixing microbes. It can also contribute to devising biological strategies for reducing carbon dioxide from the environment. It introduces an innovative idea of exploring the potential of these bacterial strains for reversing global warming. The CSD can be accessed at http://csd.igib.res.in.

Key words: Carbon dioxide utilizing strain database (CSD), carbon dioxide, autotrophic microorganisms, global warming, biological fixation of CO₂, CO₂ fixing pathways.

Abbreviation

CSD, Carbon dioxide utilizing strain database; PHP, hypertext preprocessor; HTML, hypertext markup language; NCBI, National Center for Biotechnology Information.