Entrez Gene Overview

Entrez Gene:

• Scope: includes the genes that have been annotated on the complete genomes in Entrez Genomes (i.e., genes annotated on RefSeq  NC_* records).
• The Entrez Gene Statistics page provides information on how many organisms are currently represented in the database. As of November 2007, over 4600 organisms are represented in Entrez Gene, compared with over 160,000 organisms in the Nucleotide sequence database. Some organisms in the Nucleotide database are represented with only a single sequence record, whereas organisms in Entrez Gene have genomes that were completely sequenced or are in progress.


• each record represents a single gene from a given organism



• the types and quantity of information present in an individual record depend upon what is available for a particular organism or gene



• minimum set of data in a Gene record includes:
• a unique identifier or GeneID assigned by NCBI
• a preferred symbol
• and any one or more of:
• sequence information
• map information
• official nomenclature from an authority list


• a Gene record can also include other categories of information, as available, such as:
• alternate gene symbols
• summary of gene/protein function
• published references that provide additional information on function
• expression
• homology data
• and more