GenBank Overview

What is GenBank?

GenBank^® is the NIH genetic sequence database, anannotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences(Nucleic Acids Research, 2013 Jan;41(D1):D36-42). GenBank is part of theInternational Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration,which comprises the DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ), the EuropeanNucleotide Archive (ENA), and GenBank at NCBI. These threeorganizations exchange data on a daily basis.

A GenBank release occurs every two months and is available from theftp site. Therelease notesfor the current version of GenBank providedetailed information about the release and notifications of upcomingchanges to GenBank. Release notes forprevious GenBank releasesare also available. GenBank growthstatistics for both the traditional GenBank divisionsand the WGS division are available from each release.

Anannotated sample GenBank record for aSaccharomyces cerevisiae gene demonstrates many of the features ofthe GenBank flat file format.

Access to GenBank

There are several ways to search and retrieve data from GenBank.

• Search GenBank for sequence identifiers and annotations withEntrez Nucleotide.
• Search and align GenBank sequences to a query sequence usingBLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). SeeBLAST info for more information aboutthe numerous BLAST databases.
• Search, link, and download sequences programatically usingNCBI e-utilities.
• The ASN.1 and flatfile formats are available at NCBI's anonymous FTPserver:ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ncbi-asn1 andftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank.

GenBank Data Usage

The GenBank database is designed to provide and encourage accesswithin the scientific community to the most up-to-date andcomprehensive DNA sequence information. Therefore, NCBI places norestrictions on the use or distribution of the GenBank data. However,some submitters may claim patent, copyright, or other intellectualproperty rights in all or a portion of the data they havesubmitted. NCBI is not in a position to assess the validity of suchclaims, and therefore cannot provide comment or unrestrictedpermission concerning the use, copying, or distribution of theinformation contained in GenBank.

Data Processing, Status and Release

The most important source of new data for GenBank is direct submissions from a variety of individuals, including researchers, using one of our submissiontools. Following submission, data are subject to automated and manual processing to ensure data integrity and quality and are subsequently made available to the public. On rare occasions, data may be removed from public view. More details about this process can be found on theNLM GenBank and SRA Data Processing.

Confidentiality

Some authors are concerned that the appearance of their data in GenBank prior to publication will compromise their work. GenBank will, upon request, withhold release of new submissions for a specified period of time. However, if the accession number or sequence data appears in print or online prior to the specified date, your sequence will be released. In order to prevent the delay in the appearance of published sequence data, we urge authors to inform us of the appearance of the published data. As soon as it is available, please send the full publication data--all authors, title, journal, volume, pages and date--to the following address:update@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Privacy

If you are submitting human sequences to GenBank, do not include anydata that could reveal the personal identity of the source. GenBankassumes that the submitter has received any necessary informed consentauthorizations required prior to submitting sequences.

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