BankIt

BankIt submits nucleotide sequences to GenBank to enable public archiving and retrieval of sequence data for research in taxonomy, genomics, and public health.

Key Features:

• Integration with GenBank: Submissions are assigned accession numbers by GenBank staff to ensure cataloging and retrieval within the GenBank database.
• International data exchange: GenBank records submitted via BankIt are exchanged with the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) to provide synchronized global coverage.
• Enhanced submission capabilities: Supports targeted 16S submissions and the upload of specialized data types including methylation data and BioNano mapping files.
• Public health sequence support: Enables submission of sequences related to antimicrobial resistance genes for surveillance and tracking of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Scientific Applications:

• Taxonomy and evolutionary studies: Archiving nucleotide sequences from described species to support analyses of evolutionary relationships and biodiversity.
• Genomic research: Support for whole genome shotgun (WGS) projects and environmental sampling initiatives to populate genomic datasets.
• Biomedical research: Linking sequence records to PubMed and related literature to facilitate investigations into genetic bases of disease and therapeutic development.
• Public health surveillance: Deposition of antimicrobial resistance gene sequences to aid monitoring and epidemiological studies.

Methodology:

Sequences are uploaded via the web interface; submissions are validated and formatted, then assigned accession numbers and linked to related information such as taxonomy, protein records, and biomedical literature.