Proteomics databases and repositories

Abstract

With the advent of more powerful and sensitive analytical techniques and instruments, the field of mass spectrometry based proteomics has seen a considerable increase in the amount of generated data. Correspondingly, the need to make these data publicly available in centralized online databases has also become more pressing. As a result, several such databases have been created, and steps are currently being taken to integrate these different systems under a single worldwide data-sharing umbrella. This chapter will discuss the importance of such databases and the necessary infrastructure that these databases require for efficient operation. Furthermore, the various kinds of information that proteomics databases can store will be described, along with the different types of databases that are available today. Finally, a selection of prominent repositories will be described in more detail, together with the international ProteomExchange consortium that is aimed at uniting all the different databases in a global data sharing collaboration.