Finding Sequence Using NCBI Nucleotide

This guide is based on a Welch Medical Library class on finding gene-based information using the web interface of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

It situates the Nucleotide database in the broader context of NCBI's mission and NCBI's suite of related databases. It then summarizes Nucleotide's content, scope, and searching features. Finally, the guide walks users step-by-step through a use case on finding sequences for a family of genes.

Far from an exhaustive look at Nucleotide, this guide nevertheless provides an excellent starting point for understanding its scope and effectively searching its content.

After reading through this guide, users will be able to do the following in NCBI Nucleotide:

• Use a concept-based approach to searching
• Use trusted sources for finding gene names when constructing searches
• Use advanced searching tools, such as fields tags, truncation, quotation marks, Boolean operators, and index lists
• Navigate and export search results

If you have questions about searching Nucleotide, other NCBI databases, EMBL-EBI databases, or web-based bioinformatics databases from other sources, please contact:

Rob Wright, Basic Science Informationist, rwrigh32@jhmi.edu.