The major objective of the Protein Identification Resource is to develop a biotechnological information resource of protein sequences and associated information that is well verified, complete, and well organized according to biological principles, including functional and evolutionary relationships. This Resource is fundamental to developments in all phases of biomedical research; it has already made major contributions to studies on evolution, on protein structure/function relationships, and on the role of proteins (and the genes specifying them) in many diseases. The information is essential to the basic sciences for developments in areas related to protein and genetic engineering and for interpretation of data generated in large genomic sequencing projects. To cope with an extremely rapid influx of data without sacrificing quality and reliability, new software tools, new procedures for data input and organization, and methods for the international distribution of information collection are being developed. The participation of the international community of biomedical scientists in data collection, analysis, and verification is being encouraged. Collaborations with the major nucleic acid sequence databases are being pursued in order to set up mechanisms to minimize duplication of effort and to share insights and experiences. Collaborations with the National Library of Medicine and with databases containing related information, including particularly the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank of three-dimensional structures, will contribute to the organization of biological knowledge into a multidimensional matrix.
