InterPro provides an Integrated
resource of Protein Families,
Domains and
Sites of
the commonly used signature databases, and has an intuitive
interface for text- and sequence-based searches.
Bioinformatics infrastructural activities are crucial to modern
biological research. Complete and up-to-date databases of biological knowledge are vital for
the increasingly
information-dependent biological and biotechnological research. Secondary protein databases on
functional sites and domains like PROSITE, PRINTS, SMART, Pfam, ProDom,
etc. are vital resources for identifying distant relationships in novel
sequences, and hence for predicting protein function and structure. Unfortunately, these
signature databases do not share the same formats and nomenclature, and
each database has is own strengths and weaknesses.
To capitalise
on these, the following partners: EBI, SIB, University of Manchester, Sanger Institute, GENE-IT,
CNRS/INRA, LION bioscience AG and University of Bergen unified PROSITE, PRINTS,
ProDom and Pfam into InterPro (Integrated resource of Protein Families,
Domains and Sites). The latest databases to join the project were SMART, and more
recently, TIGRFAMs.
Secondarly
Protein Sequence Databases
