UniProtKB

UniProtKB (or Universal Protein Knowledgebase) is a comprehensive resource for protein sequence and annotation data. The database is produced and maintained by the UniProt Consortium, which consists of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and the Protein Information Resource (PIR).

Overview

UniProtKB is divided into two sections: UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot (manually annotated and reviewed) and UniProtKB/TrEMBL (automatically annotated and not reviewed). The database provides a large volume of information about the biological function of proteins derived from the research literature. It includes data from genomics and proteomics projects, and it is used by researchers worldwide for a variety of applications, including bioinformatics, genetics, protein chemistry and pharmacology.

UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot

UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot is the manually annotated component of UniProtKB. It contains records that have been curated by experts, providing reliable and high-quality annotations. Each entry in this section of the database represents a protein sequence and related information, which includes the protein's function, its domain structure, post-translational modifications and variants.

UniProtKB/TrEMBL

UniProtKB/TrEMBL is the computer-annotated component of UniProtKB, containing entries that have not yet been manually reviewed. These entries are enriched with automatic annotation and classification features. The data in this section is continuously updated to incorporate new information.

Access and Use

UniProtKB can be accessed online through the UniProt website. Users can search the database using various criteria, including protein name, gene name, UniProtKB number, and taxonomy. The database also provides links to other databases, such as Protein Data Bank (PDB), Gene Ontology (GO), and PubMed, facilitating further research.

See Also

• Protein database
• Bioinformatics
• Proteomics
• Genomics