A Genomic Database for Escherichia coli: Total Information on a Given Organism

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights a genomic database for Escherichia coli . To make a genomic database for an organism is to organize, into a computer database, all of the information on that organism. These data will include information on DNA and protein sequences; genetic, physical, and cytological maps; genes and their mutant phenotypes; protein and RNA products and their properties; biochemical or developmental pathways; regulatory circuits; literature references; and many other types of data, as needed to describe the organism fully. A genomic database should be similar to the GenBank sequence and Medline literature databases. The preceding process of making a genomic database involves encoding all appropriate sets of data into electronic format and then progressively recording relationships among these data sets as this information becomes discovered.