Question

Name three database retrieval tools available from the NCBI. What all do they allow us to access ?

Hint:

Remember that databases like NCBI, UniProtKB and PDB are very important sources of biological information for researchers.

Answer 1

(i) Three Database Retrieval Tools from NCBI: The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) offers several database retrieval tools that allow access to biological information. Some of them include: Entrez: Entrez allows users to access literature, sequences and structures, and it provides a very broad access to various types of information related to biology and medicine. Taxonomy Browser: The Taxonomy browser provides taxonomic classification of various organisms (like animals, bacteria, plants etc). Locus Link: Locus Link provides information on official gene names, descriptive information about the genes and about homologous genes. (ii) Information in UniProtKB and PDB: UniProtKB: The UniProtKB (Universal Protein Knowledgebase) provides detailed information about proteins, including annotated protein sequences, functions, structures and other related information. PDB: The PDB (Protein Data Bank) provides information about the three-dimensional structure of proteins and other macromolecules. This is a key database in structural biology, and allows researchers to view the structure of the proteins.