Swiss-Prot
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Swiss-Prot is a curated biological database of protein sequences created in 1986 by Amos Bairoch during his PhD and developed by the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the European Bioinformatics Institute. It strives to provide a high level of annotation (such as the description of the function of a protein, its domains structure, post-translational modifications, variants, etc.), a minimal level of redundancy and high level of integration with other databases. As of July 5, 2004, Swiss-Prot (release 44.0) contains 153,871 entries.
Now funded by the NIH, Swiss-Prot and its automatically curated supplement TrEMBL, have joined with the PIR to produce UniProtKB, the world's most comprehensive catalogue of information on proteins. It is a central repository of protein sequence and function created by joining the information contained in Swiss-Prot, TrEMBL, and PIR.
UniProt is comprised of three components, each optimised for different uses. The UniProt Knowledgebase (UniProt) is the central access point for extensive curated protein information, including function, classification, and cross-reference. The UniProt Non-redundant Reference (UniRef) databases combine closely related sequences into a single record to speed searches. The UniProt Archive (UniParc) is a comprehensive repository, reflecting the history of all protein sequences.
Reference
- Bairoch A. Serendipity in bioinformatics, the tribulations of a Swiss bioinformatician through exciting times! Bioinformatics (http://bioinformatics.oupjournal.org/) 2000;16:48-64. PDF (http://bioinformatics.oupjournals.org/cgi/reprint/16/1/48). A historical account by Bairoch.
External link
- SWISS-PROT Protein Db (http://www.expasy.org/sprot/) (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics)