PIR

PIR:The Protein Information Resource

Summary: PIR is a good place to start for uncommon sequences because it derives so much of its information from the nucleic acid sequence databases, the source of all protein sequences. However, if you would like a great deal more information about your sequence, Swiss-Prot might be a better starting point.

The PIR was established with funds from the NIH in 1984 and is maintained by the National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF). In 1988, the PIR began a cooperative effort with the Martinsried Institute for Protein Sequences (MIPS) in Germany and the Japanese International Protein Information Database (JIPID) in Japan with the intention of establishing a consistent network of protein sequence information.

PIR is, in fact, a collection of databases into which protein sequences are sorted based on how much is known about them. PIR1 is a collection of classified and annotated sequences. PIR2 contains annotated sequences. PIR3 is a made up of unverified sequences.

Searching PIR is very easy, once you find the search site on the WWW (it is not linked anywhere on the PIR home page at NBRF). However, the site that has been established is extremely easy to use. You can search by a number of characteristics, including molecular weight, if it is known. All searches will automatically bring results from all three of the PIR databases.

More information about searching PIR is also available.

Submitting sequences to PIR is fairly standard and is primarily accomplished with the standalone software Authorin. Most sequences in the database are derived from nucleic acid submissions to GenBank and EMBL, so there is often not much reason to submit protein sequences separately.

Last updated: July 23, 1998
URL: http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/pages/science/pir.html
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