THE NUCLEIC ACID DATABASE

Helen M. Berman, John Westbrook, Zukang Feng, Bohdan Schneider and Christine Zardecki

Rutgers University, Piscataway NJ 08855, USA

Keywords: Nucleic Acid Database Data Deposition Relational Database

The Nucleic Acid Database provides information about nucleic acid- containing three dimensional structures. In addition to coordinates, the data available consist of primary information about the experimental methods used to determine the structures and derived information about the geometry of the structures

The NDB is a direct deposition site for all nucleic acid crystal structures. Our procedures for structure checking are now contained in a package called NuCheck which we plan to make available on the WWW.

All the data in the NDB are organized in a relational database. The database can be queried via the WWW and a large variety of reports can obtained. The NDB can be accessed from sites in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

The many ways in which the resources of the NDB can be used to address research problems will be discussed.

The NDB is supported by funds from the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.