UniGene

UniGene is a database that is maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). It provides an organized view of the transcriptome, and for each known gene, it presents the sequences that represent the gene's transcriptional landscape.

Overview

The UniGene database is a system for partitioning transcript sequences into a non-redundant set of gene-oriented clusters. Each UniGene cluster contains sequences that represent a unique gene, as well as related information such as the tissue types in which the gene has been expressed and map location.

Construction

The UniGene database is constructed by partitioning GenBank sequences into a non-redundant set of gene-oriented clusters. Each UniGene cluster contains sequences that represent a unique gene. The process of creating a UniGene cluster involves several steps:

1. Sequences are partitioned into clusters based on their overlap.
2. Each cluster is then analyzed to identify the most likely representative sequence.
3. The representative sequence is then used to search the rest of the database to find other sequences that may belong to the same gene.

Applications

UniGene is a valuable resource for many areas of genomic research. These include:

1. Gene discovery and annotation
2. Gene expression studies
3. Comparative genomics
4. Molecular evolution studies
5. Disease research

See also

• National Center for Biotechnology Information
• GenBank
• Transcriptome
• Gene expression