World Wide Web Resources for Microbiologists

This review is intended for several audiences. For those not yet using the World Wide Web (WWW), it provides an introduction and a roadmap to some important electronic databases and analytical programs. For more familiar users, it describes some Web sites in detail. The multi-faceted focus reflects the diverse resources of the Internet and a subset of particular use to microbiologists. Of equal importance, this article hopes to convey that these sites and others like them are research projects in themselves. Thus, they not only provide easy access to information but also test new ways of organizing and using it. Finally, for those who are leading the way into cyberspace, this article might provoke thought and provide some amusement. The way that scientists find information is changing rapidly. Visits to the library and calls or letters to colleagues are being replaced by searches of the Internet, e-mail messages and postings on electronic bulletin board systems (BBSs). If you need a mutant strain or a monoclonal cell line, you may be only a few computer-mouse clicks away from locating it, and you may be able to order it with only a little more effort. Along the lines of information resources, microbiologists are widely aware of the GenBank and European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) nucleic acid and protein sequence databases and the Medline bibliographic database. However, there are many other, very diverse databases, differing in subject matter, internal organization and methods for user searches and information retrieval. In addition, some sites primarily provide analytical services; for example, the MFOLD site performs RNA-secondary structure predictions. A newer type of information resource, a knowledge base, is represented by EcoCyc, a digital compendium of information about Escherichia coli. Organized according to metabolic pathways, EcoCyc provides instantaneous cross references to enzymes, substrates, genes and their supporting literature. It is one of a growing number of such resources dealing with either individual organisms, microbes generally (e.g., PUMA) or other information. As an example of this diversity of resources, a list of selected microbiological databases and analytical programs that are accessible on the Web has been made available as a supplement to this review in the BioResources Section of the BioTechniques’ Web site (http://www.BioTechniques.com). As explained below, the Web is one part of the Internet. The list is not comprehensive, as there may be several hundred such sites. Moreover, there are databases that are accessible through the Internet but not part of the Web.