Barbara Ann Rapp
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 164
Get eBook
The rapidly expanding field of biotechnology presents an enormous challenge in keeping pace with current developments. In response to the needs of the biotechnology community, hundreds of information products have emerged. A wide variety of databases and print products supplies information targeted to the research, technological, and commercial aspects of biotechnology. For the research community, the most important development is the emergence of databases containing vast quantities of primary research data from genetic mapping and sequencing projects. Traditionally, the journal literature has been the major source of primary research information, and it continues to be indispensable. However, because of the vast amounts of research data generated by genetic sequencing and mapping projects, journals cannot reproduce the data in full, and the primary research databases have become extensions of experimental laboratories. The databases range in size and coverage from the comprehensive databases such as GenBank, which covers all known DNA sequences, to specialized databases focusing on a single organism, chromosome, or class of protein.