Amos Bairoch
SWISS-PROT group leader
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
C.M.U.
1, rue Michel Servet
1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
bairoch@isb-sib.ch
WWW: www.expasy.ch/www/amos.html
Abstract:
SWISS-PROT is a curated added-value
protein sequence database which strives to provide a high level
of annotations (such as the description of the function of a protein,
its domains structure, post-translational modifications, variants,
etc), a minimal level of redundancy and a high level of integration
with other databases [1]. It currently contains about 80'000 annotated
sequence entries from 6500 species. It is used by an estimated
200'000 users worldwide and accessed through many different distribution
media - the most popular one being currently the World Wide Web
(see www.expasy.ch/sprot/).
SWISS-PROT is complemented by TrEMBL a computer-annotated supplement.
We will describe what we believe are the challenges that face SWISS-PROT in the near and not so near future. How can knowledge provided by scientists cohabit with computerized inferences? How will databases, journals and researchers develop new relationships? What will be the impact of proteomic projects on the characterization of proteins? These are a few of the many questions that we will attempt to briefly evoke.
[1] Bairoch A. and Apweiler R.