Synopsis: Curating sequence and literature data for RefSeq and Gene
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) reference sequence (RefSeq) project provides sequence standards for proteins, transcripts, genes, and genomes. The database is generated through processes that leverage computational analysis, collaboration, and curation. This presentation will focus on the vertebrate RefSeq collection. Several annotation groups have built genome annotation pipelines but no other international databases provides the depth and scope of sequence curation that is reflected in the vertebrate RefSeq database. This is because RefSeq curators primarily focus on accuracy of the transcript and protein sequence which becomes a high quality reagent that is used by international genome annotation pipelines. In addition to carrying out deep sequence analysis, RefSeq curators work with collaborators to improve gene and protein names, expand the bibliography that is available in NCBIs Gene resource, add brief functionally-relevant summaries, and apply feature annotation to sequence records that provides functional information about regions of the sequence. The presentation will include background information about the RefSeq database, information on the type of sequence review that RefSeq curators engage in, an overview of the analysis tools used, and examples of the biological data content that is added by curation.