INSDC
Definition
International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, the three-way partnership between GenBank (NCBI/NLM, US), ENA (EMBL-EBI, UK/EU), and DDBJ (National Institute of Genetics, Japan) that synchronises public nucleotide sequence data globally.
- Full name
- International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration
- Members
- GenBank (US), ENA (UK/EU), DDBJ (Japan)
- Function
- Synchronises public nucleotide sequence data globally
- Relevance
- Underlies mitochondrial and forensic sequence reference databases
Common questions
Why does forensic mitochondrial DNA work rely on INSDC member databases?+
Reference sequences used to compare a questioned mtDNA profile, and species-identification work in wildlife or entomology casework, are deposited in and retrieved from GenBank or its partner databases, making INSDC synchronisation important for consistent global comparison.
What does it mean that the three INSDC databases are synchronised?+
A sequence submitted to any one of GenBank, ENA, or DDBJ is mirrored to the other two on a regular schedule, so a researcher querying any single database is effectively searching the same underlying global dataset.
Related terms
- E-Value (BLAST)
- The expected number of alignments as good as the query result that would occur by chance in a database of the given...
- EMPOP SAM2
- The submission quality-assurance module used by the EMPOP database to screen incoming mtDNA sequences for phylogenetic inconsistencies, sequencing artefacts, and nomenclature errors....
- Haplogroup
- A monophyletic branch of the human mitochondrial (or Y-chromosome) phylogenetic tree defined by a set of derived mutations. Haplogroup assignment is the...
- rCRS
- The revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (GenBank accession NC_012920), the standard reference for human mitochondrial DNA. All mtDNA variant positions in forensic and...