UniProt

UniProt

File:Uniprot-logo.img.svg

Logo of UniProt

UniProt is a comprehensive, high-quality, and freely accessible resource of protein sequence and functional information. It is a central hub for the collection of functional information on proteins, with accurate, consistent, and rich annotation. The UniProt databases are maintained by the UniProt Consortium, which includes the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and the Protein Information Resource (PIR).

History

The UniProt project was initiated in December 2002 as a merger of three existing protein databases: Swiss-Prot, TrEMBL, and PIR-PSD. The goal was to create a single, comprehensive resource that would provide a more complete and accurate picture of protein sequences and their functions. The first release of UniProt was in 2003.

Components

UniProt consists of several components:

• UniProtKB (UniProt Knowledgebase): This is the central database of protein sequences and functional information. It is divided into two sections:

 * Swiss-Prot: A manually annotated and reviewed section of UniProtKB.
 * TrEMBL: A computer-annotated section of UniProtKB, which is not reviewed.

• UniParc (UniProt Archive): A comprehensive and non-redundant database that contains most of the publicly available protein sequences in the world.

• UniRef (UniProt Reference Clusters): Provides clustered sets of sequences from UniProtKB and selected UniParc records to obtain complete coverage of sequence space at several resolutions.

Features

UniProt provides a wide range of features, including:

• Detailed annotation of protein sequences, including information on function, domain structure, post-translational modifications, variants, and more.
• Cross-references to other databases, providing a network of biological information.
• Tools for sequence analysis and retrieval.
• Regular updates to ensure the most current data is available.

Access and Use

UniProt is freely accessible to the public and can be accessed through its website. Users can search for proteins by name, function, or sequence, and download data in various formats. The database is widely used by researchers in the fields of bioinformatics, molecular biology, and genomics.

Related pages

• Protein Data Bank
• GenBank
• Ensembl

External links

• Official UniProt website