National Center for Biotechnology Information facts for kids
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| Abbreviation | NCBI |
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| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Bethesda, Maryland |
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Official language
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English |
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Director
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Stephen Sherry (since Sept 26, 2022) |
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Parent organization
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United States National Library of Medicine |
| Affiliations | National Institutes of Health |
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is like a huge online library and toolbox for scientists! It's part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The U.S. government supports and funds NCBI. It was started in 1988 and is located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NCBI has many important databases and tools for biotechnology (using living things to make products) and biomedicine (medicine focused on biology). Some of its main databases include GenBank for DNA information and PubMed for medical articles. All these databases can be searched online using the Entrez search system.
Contents
GenBank: The DNA Database
GenBank is a very important database that stores DNA sequences. NCBI has been in charge of GenBank since 1992. It works with other labs and DNA databases around the world, like those in Europe and Japan, to share and organize this information.
Besides GenBank, NCBI also offers other useful databases. These include databases for genes, information about human genetic conditions (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man), and a database of tiny differences in DNA called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (dbSNP). They also have a map of the human genome and a way to look up how different living things are classified (a taxonomy browser). NCBI even gives a special ID number to every species of organism.
NCBI also provides software tools that you can use on the internet. For example, BLAST is a program that helps scientists compare DNA sequences very quickly. It can find similar sequences in the GenBank database in less than 15 seconds!
NCBI Bookshelf: Online Science Books
The NCBI Bookshelf is a collection of science books that you can read for free online. These books cover many topics like molecular biology (the study of molecules in living things), biochemistry (the chemistry of life), cell biology, genetics, and microbiology (the study of tiny living things).
Some books on the Bookshelf are online versions of books that were already published. Others are written by NCBI staff. The Bookshelf helps scientists by giving them a deeper understanding of different science topics and a way to connect many different research findings.
BLAST: Finding Similar DNA and Proteins
The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, or BLAST, is a powerful computer program. It helps scientists find how similar different biological sequences are. This includes DNA sequences and protein sequences.
BLAST is great for finding sequences that are similar to one you are studying, whether they are from the same organism or different ones. It searches through NCBI's huge databases and then shows the results in your web browser. This helps scientists understand how genes and proteins are related across different species.
Entrez: The Main Search Engine
Entrez is NCBI's main search system. It lets you search across all of NCBI's major databases at once. This includes databases for DNA and protein sequences, protein structures, medical articles (PubMed), and information about different species (Taxonomy).
NCBI first launched Entrez in 1991. It was designed to bring together information from many different sources and databases into one easy-to-use search system. This makes it simple for scientists to find relevant research, sequences, and structures.
Gene: All About Genes
The Gene database at NCBI helps organize and understand information about genes. It connects different types of data, such as where genes are located on a map, how they are expressed, their sequences, what proteins they make, and how they are related to genes in other organisms.
Each gene record in the database gets a special ID number. This database helps scientists keep track of known or predicted genes. It's a very useful tool for anyone studying genetics and how genes work.
Protein: The Protein Database
The Protein database stores information about individual protein sequences. This data comes from many different sources, including NCBI's own Reference Sequence (RefSeq) project and other major protein databases.
Protein records are available in different formats and are linked to other NCBI resources. This database gives users important information like the genes that make the proteins, their DNA/RNA sequences, and related scientific articles. It also provides lists of similar proteins, which are found using the BLAST program. NCBI also has a Structure database with 3D shapes of proteins.
There's also the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), which has information about parts of proteins that are very similar across different species. Another database, Protein Clusters, groups protein sequences that are very similar to each other.
PubChem: Molecules and Their Activities
The PubChem database at NCBI is a public resource for information about molecules and how they act in biological tests. You can search and access PubChem using the Entrez search system. It's a great place to find out about different chemical compounds and what they do.
See also
In Spanish: Centro Nacional para la Información Biotecnol%C3%B3gica para niños
- DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ)
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)
