National Center For Biotechnology Information Web Research Articles

GeneGPT: augmenting large language models with domain tools for improved access to biomedical information.

While large language models (LLMs) have been successfully applied to various tasks, they still face challenges with hallucinations. Augmenting LLMs with domain-specific tools such as database utilities can facilitate easier and more precise access to specialized knowledge. In this article, we present GeneGPT, a novel method for teaching LLMs to use the Web APIs of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) for answering genomics questions. Specifically, we prompt Codex to solve the GeneTuring tests with NCBI Web APIs by in-context learning and an augmented decoding algorithm that can detect and execute API calls. Experimental results show that GeneGPT achieves state-of-the-art performance on eight tasks in the GeneTuring benchmark with an average score of 0.83, largely surpassing retrieval-augmented LLMs such as the new Bing (0.44), biomedical LLMs such as BioMedLM (0.08) and BioGPT (0.04), as well as GPT-3 (0.16) and ChatGPT (0.12). Our further analyses suggest that: First, API demonstrations have good cross-task generalizability and are more useful than documentations for in-context learning; second, GeneGPT can generalize to longer chains of API calls and answer multi-hop questions in GeneHop, a novel dataset introduced in this work; finally, different types of errors are enriched in different tasks, providing valuable insights for future improvements. The GeneGPT code and data are publicly available at https://github.com/ncbi/GeneGPT.

Phylogenetic analysis of Shorea Genus in University of North Sumatra Campus, Indonesia, based on matK genes

Shorea is one of the genera in the Dipterocarpacea family with a very large number of species. Shorea tree species have high economic and ecological value. Currently more than 100 species of Shorea are in the endangered category. Taxonomic aspects as well as information on biological characteristics are one of the important bases of species conservation or restoration activities. The University of North Sumatra campus is one of the green open spaces that can be used as an ex-situ conservation location. This study aims to determine the types of trees of the Shorea genus on the North Sumatra University campus and their kinship based on phylogenetic analysis. It is necessary to identify the Shorea species on the USU campus using the current taxonomic method using phylogeny analysis. Sequences of the identified Shorea species were collected from the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) web, then edited the data and constructed a phylogenetic tree using Meng X.1. In this study found 4 types of Shorea, namely Shorea parvifolia (Meranti Sarang Punai), Shorea laevis (Bangkirai), Shorea macrophylla (Tengkawang Tungkul) and Shorea leprosula. Shorea leprosula species are separated from other Shorea groups. This indicates that Shorea leprosula is closely related to other Shorea. Meanwhile, Shorea macrophylla and Shorea parvifolia are closely related because they are in one cluster, with a boostrap value of 85%.

Workflow and web application for annotating NCBI BioProject transcriptome data.

The volume of transcriptome data is growing exponentially due to rapid improvement of experimental technologies. In response, large central resources such as those of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) are continually adapting their computational infrastructure to accommodate this large influx of data. New and specialized databases, such as Transcriptome Shotgun Assembly Sequence Database (TSA) and Sequence Read Archive (SRA), have been created to aid the development and expansion of centralized repositories. Although the central resource databases are under continual development, they do not include automatic pipelines to increase annotation of newly deposited data. Therefore, third-party applications are required to achieve that aim. Here, we present an automatic workflow and web application for the annotation of transcriptome data. The workflow creates secondary data such as sequencing reads and BLAST alignments, which are available through the web application. They are based on freely available bioinformatics tools and scripts developed in-house. The interactive web application provides a search engine and several browser utilities. Graphical views of transcript alignments are available through SeqViewer, an embedded tool developed by NCBI for viewing biological sequence data. The web application is tightly integrated with other NCBI web applications and tools to extend the functionality of data processing and interconnectivity. We present a case study for the species Physalis peruviana with data generated from BioProject ID 67621. Database URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/physalis/

Search GenBank: interactive orchestration and ad-hoc choreography of Web services in the exploration of the biomedical resources of the National Center For Biotechnology Information

BackgroundDue to the growing number of biomedical entries in data repositories of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), it is difficult to collect, manage and process all of these entries in one place by third-party software developers without significant investment in hardware and software infrastructure, its maintenance and administration. Web services allow development of software applications that integrate in one place the functionality and processing logic of distributed software components, without integrating the components themselves and without integrating the resources to which they have access. This is achieved by appropriate orchestration or choreography of available Web services and their shared functions. After the successful application of Web services in the business sector, this technology can now be used to build composite software tools that are oriented towards biomedical data processing.ResultsWe have developed a new tool for efficient and dynamic data exploration in GenBank and other NCBI databases. A dedicated search GenBank system makes use of NCBI Web services and a package of Entrez Programming Utilities (eUtils) in order to provide extended searching capabilities in NCBI data repositories. In search GenBank users can use one of the three exploration paths: simple data searching based on the specified user’s query, advanced data searching based on the specified user’s query, and advanced data exploration with the use of macros. search GenBank orchestrates calls of particular tools available through the NCBI Web service providing requested functionality, while users interactively browse selected records in search GenBank and traverse between NCBI databases using available links. On the other hand, by building macros in the advanced data exploration mode, users create choreographies of eUtils calls, which can lead to the automatic discovery of related data in the specified databases.Conclusionssearch GenBank extends standard capabilities of the NCBI Entrez search engine in querying biomedical databases. The possibility of creating and saving macros in the search GenBank is a unique feature and has a great potential. The potential will further grow in the future with the increasing density of networks of relationships between data stored in particular databases. search GenBank is available for public use at http://sgb.biotools.pl/.

BioSpotlight

BioTechniquesVol. 53, No. 5 BioSpotlightOpen AccessBioSpotlightPatrick Lo & Kristie NyboPatrick LoSearch for more papers by this author & Kristie NyboSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Apr 2018https://doi.org/10.2144/000113945AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit Titer countsPhage display enables researchers to identify interactions of protein sequences fused to a phage coat protein expressed on the viral surface. Displayed sequences can be selected based on their desired binding properties, following which the associated virus is propagated in a bacterial host for isolation and purification. It is common to repeat the selection steps three or more times for enrichment, with the phage concentration determined after each propagation step. Phage concentration is commonly calculated using the plating method, where Escherichia coli are infected with phage, mixed in soft agar, plated, and the resulting plaques or colonies counted. Although this is an effective means of quantification, the procedure is lengthy, requiring an overnight incubation period. UV photometry can be used as a quicker approach to assess phage concentrations, but this method requires complete removal of impurities that absorb UV light and adversely affect readings. In this issue of BioTechniques, Lehmusvuori et al. from the University of Turku, Finland describe a new approach for quantifying bacteriophage using lanthanide fluorescence probes, a technology previously developed by the authors for other applications, and demonstrate its effectiveness using the M13 phage display system. The method requires two non-fluorescent oligonucleotide probes, one carrying a lanthanide ion and the other an antenna probe. When the probes hybridize to adjacent positions on the chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase gene, a selectable marker on the M13 phagemid single stranded DNA, the lanthanide ion and antenna probe form a highly fluorescent lanthanide chelate complex that can be measured as an indication of the concentration of ssDNA in solution. After only four hours in culture, phage could be detected in supernatant, demonstrating a significant time savings for this important step in phage display technology compared to the plating method. Measurements were highly reliable, and even more accurate than phage counts obtained using absorbance measurements. Although demonstrated with the M13 phage display system, this methodology should be applicable to quantification of other ssDNA phage species.Diagram of the complementation probe-based bacteriophage quantification assay detailed in Lehmusvuori, et al.See “Homogenous M13 bacteriophage quantification assay using switchable lanthanide fluorescence probes”.Having a BLAST (on your own)The first step in identifying any novel DNA or protein sequence is to perform a sequence similarity search against databases of known sequences to establish identity or find sequence homologs. The principal algorithm used for such similarity searches is the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), which is conveniently done online using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) server, in conjunction with various publicly available databases such as GenBank and UniProt. Under certain circumstances, however, researchers may prefer to carry out offline BLAST searches on a local computer against their own databases of proprietary or unpublished sequences. While NCBI provides stand-alone, command line versions of BLAST that can be freely downloaded and installed on a personal computer, these are not particularly user-friendly, especially for biological researchers lacking computer expertise. There are two graphical front ends with extensive features and options for the BLAST command line software currently available, but these are restricted to Unix-based systems. Windows users unfortunately are restricted to a pair of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that suffer from several major limitations. In this issue, P. Santiago-Sotelo and J.H. Ramirez-Prado at the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán (Mexico) describe prfectBLAST, an operating system-independent GUI for the NCBI stand-alone suite of the new BLAST+ command line executables. prfectBLAST is free, open-source, completely self-contained, and coded in Java version 6, allowing it to be executed on multiple platforms (including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux). In addition, the software does not require installation or any dependencies, so it can be run from an external flash or hard drive if desired. Its graphical layout and choice of options was designed to mirror the NCBI web interface for BLAST+ searches, and all BLAST+ parameters can be easily changed through the GUI. Searches using any of the BLAST+ programs are carried out against locally stored, user-customized databases and can be run in the computer background; several searches can be carried out concurrently. prfectBLAST is ideally suited for novice and casual users, yet flexible enough to allow experts to fully utilize all the advanced options available for BLAST+.See “prfectBLAST: a platform independent portable front end for the command terminal BLAST+ stand-alone suite”.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 53, No. 5 Follow us on social media for the latest updates Metrics History Published online 3 April 2018 Published in print November 2012 Information© 2012 Author(s)PDF download

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information

In addition to maintaining the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through the NCBI Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Primer-BLAST, COBALT, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Splign, ProSplign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, dbVar, Epigenomics, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Trace Archive, Sequence Read Archive, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART), IBIS, Biosystems, Peptidome, OMSSA, Protein Clusters and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of these resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Using the NCBI web site to understand GPCR structure

Pharmacology educators have discussed the need for future PhD scientists to have diverse training, to think critically and question assumptions, to acquire communication skills, to critically evaluate articles, and demonstrate independence. Many students enter pharmacology doctoral programs with diverse backgrounds and high GRE scores but lack these skills. The required doctoral courses provide a vast array of scientific knowledge and students must apply this information to their field of specialty. All of our graduate students take an entry level course titled “Molecular Biology in Pharmacology” where the above skill sets are integrated into the curriculum. The course objective is to provide students with knowledge of basic concepts of molecular biology and more importantly, to use this information to understand pharmacological principles. One course component introduces students to the tools and information available on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) web site. Using bioinformatics, students must complete an assignment that integrates principles of molecular biology and biochemistry into an investigation of a G‐protein coupled receptor gene, its disease states, and protein structure. Upon completing this exercise students demonstrate the ability to use data base resources and apply that information to understand the structure and function of receptors in pharmacology.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through the NCBI web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, Reference Sequence, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Trace Archive, Sequence Read Archive, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus, Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, the Molecular Modeling Database, the Conserved Domain Database, the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool, Biosystems, Peptidome, Protein Clusters and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All these resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through the NCBI web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART) and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the web applications is custom implementation of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data available through NCBI's web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace, Assembly, and Short Read Archives, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Influenza Viral Resources, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus, Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Database of Genotype and Phenotype, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, the Molecular Modeling Database, the Conserved Domain Database, the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting the web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank® nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, My NCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link(BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genome, Genome Project and related tools, the Trace and Assembly Archives, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs), Viral Genotyping Tools, Influenza Viral Resources, HIV-1/Human Protein Interaction Database, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART) and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. These resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at .

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, the Entrez Programming Utilities, MyNCBI, PubMed, PubMed Central, Entrez Gene, the NCBI Taxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, Spidey, Splign, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, dbMHC, dbSNP, Cancer Chromosomes, Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker, Evidence Viewer, Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, HIV-1, Human Protein Interaction Database, SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus, Entrez Probe, GENSAT, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals, the Molecular Modeling Database, the Conserved Domain Database, the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool and the PubChem suite of small molecule databases. Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized datasets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at: .

Plant Genome Resources at the National Center for Biotechnology Information

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) integrates data from more than 20 biological databases through a flexible search and retrieval system called Entrez. A core Entrez database, Entrez Nucleotide, includes GenBank and is tightly linked to the NCBI Taxonomy database, the Entrez Protein database, and the scientific literature in PubMed. A suite of more specialized databases for genomes, genes, gene families, gene expression, gene variation, and protein domains dovetails with the core databases to make Entrez a powerful system for genomic research. Linked to the full range of Entrez databases is the NCBI Map Viewer, which displays aligned genetic, physical, and sequence maps for eukaryotic genomes including those of many plants. A specialized plant query page allow maps from all plant genomes covered by the Map Viewer to be searched in tandem to produce a display of aligned maps from several species. PlantBLAST searches against the sequences shown in the Map Viewer allow BLAST alignments to be viewed within a genomic context. In addition, precomputed sequence similarities, such as those for proteins offered by BLAST Link, enable fluid navigation from unannotated to annotated sequences, quickening the pace of discovery. NCBI Web pages for plants, such as Plant Genome Central, complete the system by providing centralized access to NCBI's genomic resources as well as links to organism-specific Web pages beyond NCBI.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides data analysis and retrieval resources for the data in GenBank and other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI resources include Entrez, PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), LocusLink, the NCBITaxonomy Browser, BLAST, BLAST Link (BLink), Electronic PCR (e-PCR), Open Reading Frame (ORF) Finder, References Sequence (RefSeq), UniGene, HomoloGene, ProtEST, Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP), Human/Mouse Homology Map, Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project (CCAP), Entrez Genomes and related tools, the Map Viewer, Model Maker (MM), Evidence Viewer (EV), Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) database, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB), the Conserved Domain Database (CDD), and the Conserved Domain Architecture Retrieval Tool (CDART). Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information: 2002 update.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides data analysis and retrieval resources that operate on the data in GenBank and a variety of other biological data made available through NCBI's web site. NCBI data retrieval resources include Entrez, PubMed, LocusLink and the Taxonomy Browser. Data analysis resources include BLAST, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP), Human Genome Sequencing, Human MapViewer, Human inverted exclamation markVMouse Homology Map, Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project (CCAP), Entrez Genomes, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) database, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB) and the Conserved Domain Database (CDD). Augmenting many of the web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides data analysis and retrieval resources that operate on the data in GenBank and a variety of other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI data retrieval resources include Entrez, PubMed, LocusLink and the Taxonomy Browser. Data analysis resources include BLAST, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, RefSeq, UniGene, HomoloGene, Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP), Human Genome Sequencing, Human MapViewer, GeneMap'99, Human-Mouse Homology Map, Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project (CCAP), Entrez Genomes, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) database, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP), SAGEmap, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Online Mendelian Inheri-tance in Man (OMIM), the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB) and the Conserved Domain Database (CDD). Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov.

Database resources of the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition to maintaining the GenBank(R) nucleic acid sequence database, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides data analysis and retrieval and resources that operate on the data in GenBank and a variety of other biological data made available through NCBI's Web site. NCBI data retrieval resources include Entrez, PubMed, LocusLink and the Taxonomy Browser. Data analysis resources include BLAST, Electronic PCR, OrfFinder, RefSeq, UniGene, Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP), Human Genome Sequencing pages, GeneMap'99, Davis Human-Mouse Homology Map, Cancer Chromosome Aberration Project (CCAP) pages, Entrez Genomes, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) database, Retroviral Genotyping Tools, Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP) pages, SAGEmap, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and the Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB). Augmenting many of the Web applications are custom implementations of the BLAST program optimized to search specialized data sets. All of the resources can be accessed through the NCBI home page at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov