Searching the NCBI databases using Entrez

One of the most widely-used interfaces for the retrieval of information from biological databases is the NCBI Entrez system. Entrez capitalizes on the fact that there are pre-existing, logical relationships between the individual entries found in numerous public databases. The existence of such natural connections, mostly biological in nature, argued for the development of a method through which all the information about a particular biological entity could be found without having to sequentially visit and query disparate databases. Two Basic Protocols describe simple, text-based searches, illustrating the types of information that can be retrieved through the Entrez system. An Alternate Protocol builds upon the first Basic Protocol, using additional, built-in features of the Entrez system, and providing alternative ways to issue the initial query. The Support Protocol reviews how to save frequently-issued queries. Finally, Cn3D, a structure visualization tool, is also discussed.