The RefSeq project at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) maintains and curates a publicly available database of annotated genomic, transcript, and protein sequence records (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/). The RefSeq project leverages the data submitted to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) against a combination of computation, manual curation, and collaboration to produce a standard set of stable, non-redundant reference sequences. The RefSeq project augments these reference sequences with current knowledge including publications, functional features and informative nomenclature. The database currently represents sequences from more than 55 000 organisms (>4800 viruses, >40 000 prokaryotes and >10 000 eukaryotes; RefSeq release 71), ranging from a single record to complete genomes. This paper summarizes the current status of the viral, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic branches of the RefSeq project, reports on improvements to data access and details efforts to further expand the taxonomic representation of the collection. We also highlight diverse functional curation initiatives that support multiple uses of RefSeq data including taxonomic validation, genome annotation, comparative genomics, and clinical testing. We summarize our approach to utilizing available RNA-Seq and other data types in our manual curation process for vertebrate, plant, and other species, and describe a new direction for prokaryotic genomes and protein name management.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Taxonomy includes organism names and classifications for every sequence in the nucleotide and protein sequence databases of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration. Since the last review of this resource in 2012, it has undergone several improvements. Most notable is the shift from a single SQL database to a series of linked databases tied to a framework of data called NameBank. This means that relations among data elements can be adjusted in more detail, resulting in expanded annotation of synonyms, the ability to flag names with specific nomenclatural properties, enhanced tracking of publications tied to names and improved annotation of scientific authorities and types. Additionally, practices utilized by NCBI Taxonomy curators specific to major taxonomic groups are described, terms peculiar to NCBI Taxonomy are explained, external resources are acknowledged and updates to tools and other resources are documented. Database URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy

The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) project at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) provides annotation for over 95 000 prokaryotic genomes that meet standards for sequence quality, completeness, and freedom from contamination. Genomes are annotated by a single Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline (PGAP) to provide users with a resource that is as consistent and accurate as possible. Notable recent changes include the development of a hierarchical evidence scheme, a new focus on curating annotation evidence sources, the addition and curation of protein profile hidden Markov models (HMMs), release of an updated pipeline (PGAP-4), and comprehensive re-annotation of RefSeq prokaryotic genomes. Antimicrobial resistance proteins have been reannotated comprehensively, improved structural annotation of insertion sequence transposases and selenoproteins is provided, curated complex domain architectures have given upgraded names to millions of multidomain proteins, and we introduce a new kind of annotation rule—BlastRules. Continual curation of supporting evidence, and propagation of improved names onto RefSeq proteins ensures that the functional annotation of genomes is kept current. An increasing share of our annotation now derives from HMMs and other sets of annotation rules that are portable by nature, and available for download and for reuse by other investigators. RefSeq is found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/.