The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) collection aims to provide a comprehensive, integrated, non-redundant set of sequences, including genomic DNA, transcript (RNA), and protein products, for major research organisms.

RefSeq standards serve as the basis for medical, functional, and diversity studies; they provide a stable reference for gene identification and characterization, mutation analysis, expression studies, polymorphism discovery, and comparative analyses. RefSeqs are used as a reagent for the functional annotation of some genome sequencing projects, including those of human and mouse.

Announcements

RefSeq Release 7 RefSeq Release 7 includes over 1,144,638 proteins and over 2558 organisms. The release is available by FTP at:     ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/refseq/release/ To receive announcements of future RefSeq releases and incremental large updates please subscribe to NCBI's refseq-announce mail list: refseq-announce

Scope

NCBI provides RefSeqs for taxonomically diverse organisms including eukaryotes, bacteria, and viruses. Additional records are added to the collection as data become publicly available.

Distinguishing Features

The main features of the RefSeq collection include:

	non-redundancy
	explicitly linked nucleotide and protein sequences
	updates to reflect current knowledge of sequence data and biology
	data validation and format consistency
	distinct accession series
	ongoing curation by NCBI staff and collaborators, with reviewed records indicated

Data Access and Availability

RefSeq is accessible via BLAST, Entrez, and the NCBI FTP site. Information is also available in Entrez Genomes and Entrez Gene (and LocusLink), and for some genomes additional information is available in the Map Viewer. Special properties have been defined to facilitate Entrez-based retrieval. Also see: Entrez Query Hints

References

The NCBI handbook [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; 2002 Oct. Chapter 17, The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) Project. Available from http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Books

RefSeq and LocusLink: NCBI gene-centered resources.
Pruitt KD, Maglott DR
Nucleic Acids Res 2001 Jan 1;29(1):137-140
[PubMed]   [PDF file] (reproduced with permission from NAR Online http://www.nar.oupjournals.org)

Introducing RefSeq and LocusLink: curated human genome resources at the NCBI.
Pruitt KD, Katz KS, Sicotte H, Maglott DR
Trends Genet. 2000 Jan;16(1):44-47.
[PubMed]

Complete genomes in WWW Entrez: data representation and analysis.
Tatusova TA, Karsch-Mizrachi I, Ostell JA.
Bioinformatics 1999 Jul-Aug;15(7-8):536-43
[PubMed]