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TAIR is The Arabidopsis Information Resource, a curated database of genetic and molecular biology data for the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This guide is for researchers, librarians and research-data staff who need to know what TAIR holds, what changed in 2024-2025, and how its unit-based access model works. The figures come from the 2024 and 2026 TAIR papers in Genetics, listed under Sources.
What does TAIR stand for, and what is it?
TAIR stands for The Arabidopsis Information Resource. Phoenix Bioinformatics, a nonprofit that also hosts MorphoBank, describes it as a central database of expertly curated genetic and molecular biology data on Arabidopsis thaliana. In bioinformatics the acronym means this database. An unrelated organisation, the Texas Association for Institutional Research, also abbreviates itself TAIR and appears in the same search results.
In repository terms TAIR is a domain repository: it serves one research community and one organism, and it curates records rather than only storing files. For how sibling resources for other organisms compare, see WormBase vs FlyBase vs MGI vs ZFIN.
Who runs TAIR and what does it cover?
Phoenix Bioinformatics hosts TAIR, which has been subscription-supported since 2013 (Reiser et al. 2024). Subscriptions come from academic institutions, national bodies, corporations and individuals. Teaching use, US historically Black colleges and universities, and World Bank low-income economies are free.
Data types include gene and protein records, expression, alleles, mutant phenotypes, seed stocks and clones, markers, maps, publications and community information. The 2024 paper reports, for the Araport11 annotation: 27,657 proteins, 25,500 loci linked to primary literature, 23,123 loci with expression annotation, 7,684 loci with phenotypes and 13,439 loci with curated summaries. Locus Detail pages are the most highly used pages at TAIR. These counts are as of October 2023.
What changed in 2024-2025?
- New interface: launched 26 May 2024 on a microservices architecture, with search on Apache Solr (the authors report roughly 30% faster complex queries) and gene-list upload for bulk search and download.
- Removed or reduced: microarray searches were removed; location searches cover the reference genome only; GBrowse and SeqViewer are being retired in favour of JBrowse2.
- ABRC data: TAIR stopped providing catalogue and ordering functions for the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) in May 2019 and no longer synchronises data with it. Search the ABRC, NASC or RIKEN catalogues directly for current seed stocks.
- TAIR12 genome annotation: a reannotation of the Col-0 reference involving more than 100 scientists, 65 of them manual reviewers. It reports 26,868 protein-coding genes (Araport11: 27,655) and the annotation was submitted to GenBank on 28 April 2025; processing was still under way at publication.
What is the genome size of Arabidopsis thaliana?
In the TAIR12 paper, chromosomes 1-5 total 145.2 Mb, up from 119.1 Mb in TAIR10 and Araport11. The newer figure accompanies the Col-CC assembly (released 18 October 2023), which includes the nucleolus organiser regions. The two figures describe different assemblies, so cite the assembly version with any number you use.
How do you search, run BLAST and download?
The tools the papers document are: keyword and gene-list search, BLAST (sequence similarity), PatMatch (regular-expression search for short sequences), JBrowse2 (genome browser, at jbrowse2.arabidopsis.org), PhyloGenes, Synteny Viewer and Chromosome Map. External links include PANTHER, the Plant Metabolic Network (formerly AraCyc) and Textpresso. BLAST and PatMatch were migrated to the new platform. Bulk downloads are offered as quarterly cumulative data and GFF files. The sign-in is on the TAIR home page at arabidopsis.org.
How does TAIR access work?
As described in the 2026 paper (as of 2025), access is metered in units:
- Registered users linked to an ORCID profile receive 50 complimentary units per year; the allowance resets annually. See ORCID for what the identifier is.
- Viewing a detail page (Locus, Polymorphism, Germplasm) costs 1 unit; a file from Subscriber Data Releases costs 25 units.
- Additional buckets of units can be purchased and are valid for a year.
- Subscribers get the latest quarterly releases. Non-subscribers get public datasets that are one year old, released under CC-BY 4.0.
- Instructors and students get the same 50 units; requests for more teaching credits go to [email protected].
Older releases becoming public under an open licence is relevant to the FAIR data principles, although currency of data depends on subscription. Check TAIR’s own product page for current subscription terms.
How do you submit data and cite TAIR?
Submission guidelines are at arabidopsis.org/submit/index.jsp. Community Gene Ontology and Plant Ontology annotations go through GOAT, which needs an ORCID login, a DOI or PubMed ID, and curator review. To cite the resource, use Reiser et al. 2024 or the older TAIR paper as appropriate; for general practice see the data citation principle.
Strengths and limits
- Strengths: expert curation tied to primary literature; one place for locus, expression, phenotype and annotation data; open licence on one-year-old releases.
- Limits: metered access for current data; no microarray search; no synchronised seed-stock inventory; location search limited to the reference genome.
Where do related needs go instead?
| Need | Where the papers point |
|---|---|
| Order seed stocks | ABRC, NASC or RIKEN catalogues directly |
| Deposit a genome annotation | GenBank (the TAIR12 annotation was submitted there) |
| Gene function analysis | PANTHER (linked from TAIR) |
| Metabolic pathways | Plant Metabolic Network (linked from TAIR) |
FAQ
What is the genome size of Arabidopsis thaliana?
In the TAIR12 paper, chromosomes 1-5 total 145.2 Mb, compared with 119.1 Mb for TAIR10 and Araport11. Always name the assembly version alongside the figure.
What does TAIR mean?
The Arabidopsis Information Resource, the curated database for Arabidopsis thaliana hosted by Phoenix Bioinformatics.
What is the TAIR paper to cite?
Reiser et al. 2024, “The Arabidopsis Information Resource in 2024”, Genetics 227(1):iyae027, doi 10.1093/genetics/iyae027.
Is TAIR free?
Partly. Registered ORCID-linked users get 50 units a year, one-year-old datasets are public under CC-BY 4.0, and teaching, US HBCUs and World Bank low-income economies are free; current releases need a subscription or purchased units.
Does TAIR still handle ABRC seed ordering?
No. TAIR ended ABRC catalogue and ordering functions in May 2019; order through the ABRC directly.
Sources
- Reiser L et al. (2024). The Arabidopsis Information Resource in 2024. Genetics 227(1):iyae027. PMC11075553. Date checked: 2026-11-07.
- Reiser L et al. (2026). Recent major changes to TAIR: updates to the database, website, and Arabidopsis genome. Genetics 232(4):iyaf248. PMC13050198. Date checked: 2026-11-07.
- Phoenix Bioinformatics, phoenixbioinformatics.org. Date checked: 2026-11-07.
