SWISS-PROT protein sequence database description

SWISS-PROT (Bairoch and Apweiler, 2000) is a protein sequence database that, from its inception in 1986, was produced collaboratively by the Department of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Geneva and the EMBL. The database is now maintained collaboratively by Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) and EBI/EMBL. SWISS-PROT provides high-level annotations, including descriptions of the function of the protein and of the structure of its domains, its post-translational modifications, its variants, and so on. The database can be accessed from http //expasy.hcuge.ch/sprot/sprot-top.html or numerous mirror sites. In 1966, Translated EMBL (TrEMBL) was created as a computer-annotated supplement to SWISS-PROT (Bleasby et al, 1994). 

UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot a curated protein sequence database which strives to provide a high level of annotation (such as the description of the function of a protein, its domains structure, posttranslational modifications, variants, etc.)... 

SWISS-PROT [25, http //www.expasy.org/sprot/] is a curated protein sequence database which provides a high level of annotation, such as the description of a protein s function, its domain structure, PTMs, conflicts between literature references and variants. It also provides a minimal level of redundancy, a high level of integration with other biomolecular databases, and an extensive external documentation. Created in 1986, it now includes more than 100 000 entries from more than 7000 different species. SWISS-PROT is available from more than 100 WWW servers world-wide and its main host is the ExPASy server. 

Much of the value of databases, assuming the provision of accurate sequence data, arises from the quality of the annotation that is available. This normally includes at least a brief description of the function of the sequence and essential references to the literature. Many databases include a lot more than this. In particular, SWISS-PROT (8)is viewed as the most reliable source for annotation information. SWISS-PROT emerged in the 1980s out of a need to have high quality, robust annotations for the protein sequences that made up its core content. However, the process of annotation is labor intensive and not one that is easily automated. Although the content of SWISS-PROT is well regarded, it lacks the completeness of the source DNA databases because of the necessary delay in incorporating newly annotated sequences. Indeed, a team of annotators is employed at the... 

Protein-pattern databases cover both motifs or functional domains and secondary structure. We have included the entire InterPro family of databases, as well as BLOCKS, CDD, and a description of patterns found in Swiss-Prot sequences. DSSP, ISSD, PSSD, and CATH are covered in the secondary-structure section. 

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