The database contains fasta sequences from UniProt and associated metadata for molluscan shell matrix proteins (SMPs). The database only contains SMPs that have been experimentally validated to be present in molluscan shell matrices (based on the publication(s) attached to the UniProtID). Metadata includes information on functional domains present in the sequence, as detected by InterproScan. With the advent of Next Generation Sequencing technologies, it is computationally resource intensive to run sequence similarity algorithms on all published data. Moreover, it is impractical to sort through hundreds of sequence similarity search results when working with non-model organisms, since pre-established functional annotations of sequences are generally not available. Therefore, this database was created in order to provide a targeted molluscan biomineralization dataset for sequence similarity algorithms (such as BLAST). Database created as part of doctoral research, funded under Marie Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) - Calcium in the Changing Environment (CACHE - Grant agreement 605051).

This dataset comprises lists of fossil species from a polar region (Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula) and two tropical regions (Western Europe and US Gulf Coast) during the Early Cenozoic era. The dataset begins in the Late Maastrichtian epoch of the Cretaceous period, extends across the mass extinction event at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, and terminates in the late Middle Eocene (i.e., a timespan of some 30 Myr from approximately 70 to 40 Ma ago). The lists are based on four of the commonest types of fossil found at the time: two of these are bivalve molluscs and two are gastropod molluscs. Within each group (or taxonomic clade), the fossils are listed by family, starting with the taxonomically most primitive and ending with the most recent (or derived). Both genus and species names are given. The data were collected in various stages between 2009 and 2021. These lists were used to compare patterns of mass extinction across the K/Pg boundary and then subsequent evolutionary radiation of these four groups through the first 25 Myr of the Cenozoic era. Full details of this study are given in: Crame, J.A. & McGowan, A. J. In press. Origin of the tropical-polar biodiversity contrast. Global Ecology and Biogeography. This project was funded partly through NERC grant NE/I005803/1 and partly through BAS/NERC core funds.

This dataset comprises mRNA that was extracted from Laternula elliptica developmental stages (blastula to juvenile) and sequenced (n=3 pools of 200 individual per stage). The resulting sequence data was analysed and the following results files and analysis scripts are available here: Results files from differential gene expression analysis in edgeR (edgeR_DE), results files from WGCNA analysis (WGCNA). Data collection was carried out over Hangar Cove Rothera Point, Adelaide Island, in Ryder Bay, from 2018-04-25 to 2018-09-25 by researchers with the British Antarctic Survey. The data was collected as part of research on the developmental biology of molluscs. This work was supported by UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Core Funding to the British Antarctic Survey, a DTG Studentship (Project Reference: NE/J500173/1) and a Junior Research Fellowship to VAS from Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

Polar - tropical biodiversity comparisons are becoming essential in order to investigate fully the origin and maintenance of the larger scale patterns of life on Earth. Although many polar data are now readily to hand it is often more difficult to locate accurate and up to date tropical datasets to use in direct comparisons. This dataset represents an attempt to rectify this imbalance using two of the largest clades in shallow tropical seas at the present day. The data were obtained from primary published literature which is fully referenced below and in the companion research paper to this dataset. They relate to nine regional localities which stretch across the tropical realm from the Indo-West Pacific to the Americas. For each locality there is a full species list, with each species being assigned to both a genus and family. The latest taxonomic references have been used to ensure that all these lists are based on current biological nomenclature. Funding: Partly from NERC grant NE/I005803/1 Partly from BAS core funds