GenBank

From DrugPedia: A Wikipedia for Drug discovery

GenBank® is the NIH genetic sequence database, an annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences (Nucleic Acids Research 2004 Jan 1;32(1):23-6). There are approximately 37,893,844,733 bases in 32,549,400 sequence records as of February 2004 (see GenBank growth statistics). GenBank records are annotated using a standard set of biological terms and show these annotations in a Feature Table. As an example, you may view the record for a Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene. The complete release notes for the current version of GenBank are available. A new release is made every two months. GenBank is part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, which comprises the DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and GenBank at NCBI. These three organizations exchange data on a daily basis.

blue bulletSubmissions to GenBank

Many journals require submission of sequence information to a database prior to publication so that an accession number may appear in the paper. NCBI has a WWW form, called BankIt, for convenient and quick submission of sequence data. Sequin, NCBI's stand-alone submission software for MAC, PC, and UNIX platforms, is also available by FTP. When using Sequin, the output files for direct submission should be sent to GenBank by electronic mail.

There are specialized, streamlined procedures for batch submissions of sequences, such as EST, STS, and HTG sequences.

blue bulletUpdating or Revising a Sequence

Revisions or updates to GenBank entries can be made at any time and can be accepted as BankIt or Sequin files or as the text of an e-mail message. Click on the link for more information about updating information on GenBank records.

blue bulletAccess to GenBank

GenBank is available for searching at NCBI via several methods.

The GenBank database is designed to provide and encourage access within the scientific community to the most up to date and comprehensive DNA sequence information. Therefore, NCBI places no restrictions on the use or distribution of the GenBank data. However, some submitters may claim patent, copyright, or other intellectual property rights in all or a portion of the data they have submitted. NCBI is not in a position to assess the validity of such claims, and therefore cannot provide comment or unrestricted permission concerning the use, copying, or distribution of the information contained in GenBank.

blue bulletNew Developments NCBI is continuously developing new tools and enhancing existing ones to improve both submission and access to GenBank. The easiest way to keep abreast of these and other developments is to check the "What's New" section of the NCBI Web page and to read the NCBI News, which is also available by free subscription.