Update protein annotation on databases

Question

[Victor]

Hello all,

I'm a bit new to the computational biology scene, and I would like information regarding how protein annotations are curated and how individuals can submit protein annotations. I ask because my team and I recently published a paper that shows the function of a protein with a pre-existing annotation is very different from what the annotation suggests. My question now is, do I request updates to the extensive public databases (e.g., NCBI/Pfam/etc.), or is this something that people who curate these databases do themselves?

Can someone provide a general guide as to how to ask these databases to update an entry, and whether that is possible?

[GenoMax]

Also see: How to get Genbank to update wrong annotations?

Answer 1

[Mensur Dlakic]

You can suggest changes to Pfam annotation by using this e-mail address:

[e-mail]

There must be a similar mechanisms at NCBI, or at least try using their general help e-mail address.

At Pfam they may update it on their own, either because they see your paper or they realize on their own that there was a mistake. Still, this won't be nearly as rapid as you alerting them that the change is needed.

[Victor]

Lovely, Thank you!

Answer 2

[Elisabeth Gasteiger]

UniProt encourages updates, see https://www.uniprot.org/help/submissions