question: Which are the additions of the JASPAR 2016 open-access database of transcription factor binding profiles?
answer: Compared to the JASPAR CORE collection, JASPAR 2016 has been expanded with 494 new TF binding profiles (315 in vertebrates, 11 in nematodes, 3 in insects, 1 in fungi and 164 in plants) and 59 profiles (58 in vertebrates and 1 in fungi) have been updated. The introduced profiles represent an 83% expansion and 10% update when compared to the previous release. The structural annotation of the TF DNA binding domains (DBDs) has been updated following a published hierarchical structural classification. In addition, 130 transcription factor flexible models trained on ChIP-seq data for vertebrates, which capture dinucleotide dependencies within TF binding sites were introduced . The new JASPAR release is accompanied by a new web tool to infer JASPAR TF binding profiles recognized by a given TF protein sequence. Moreover, users are provided with a Ruby module complementing the JASPAR API to ease programmatic access and use of the JASPAR collection of profiles. JASPAR2016 R/Bioconductor data package is also provided with the data of this release.