BioParts—A Biological Parts Search Portal and Updates to the ICE Parts Registry Software Platform

Capturing, storing, and sharing biological DNA parts data are integral parts of synthetic biology research. Here, we detail updates to the ICE biological parts registry software platform that enable these processes, describe our implementation of the Web of Registries concept using ICE, and establish Bioparts, a search portal for biological parts available in the public domain. The Web of Registries enables standalone ICE installations to securely connect and form a distributed parts database. This distributed database allows users from one registry to query and access plasmid, strain, (DNA) part, plant seed, and protein entry types in other connected registries. Users can also transfer entries from one ICE registry to another or make them publicly accessible. Bioparts, the new search portal, combines the ease and convenience of modern web search engines with the capabilities of bioinformatics search tools such as BLAST. This portal, available at bioparts.org, allows anyone to search for publicly accessible biological part information (e.g., NCBI, iGEM, SynBioHub, Addgene), including parts publicly accessible through ICE Registries. Additionally, the portal offers a REST API that enables third-party applications and tools to access the portal's functionality programmatically.