RefSeq Release 1 is Ready for Download

The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) project aims to provide a non-redundant set of genomic, transcript, and protein sequences, for a wide spectrum of organisms. RefSeqs provide a stable reference for gene identification and characterization, mutation analysis, expression studies, polymorphism discovery, and comparative analyses and are used in the functional annotation of genomes, including those of mouse and human. The first release of a complete NCBI RefSeq database is now ready for download at:

The release includes over 785,000 protein sequences and more than 200,000 genomic, and mRNA, sequences for about 2,000 organisms. Available FTP files include the RefSeq sequences, a catalog of the release contents, statistics, and documentation. Subsets for taxonomic genes are available in subdirectories for “invertebrates”, “plants”, “mitochondria”, “vertebrates-mammalian”, “microbial” and several others where the RefSeq records are offered in GenBank, GenPept, and FASTA formats.

The records for the entire database are found in the “complete” subdirectory and are offered in binary ASN.1 format in the case of nucleotide and protein records, and, additionally, in FASTA format for protein records. To subscribe to the NCBI's refseq-announce mailing list, and receive announcements of future RefSeq releases, or to read more about the RefSeq project, visit the RefSeq Home Page at: