EPDSEQ

The Eukaryotic Promoter Database EPD was designed and developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot (Israel) and is currently maintained at ISREC in Epalinges s/Lausanne (Switzerland). EPD is a specialized annotation database ofthe EMBL Data Library. It provides information about eukaryotic promoters available in the EMBL Data Library and is intended to assist experimental researchers, as well as computer analysts, in the investigation of eukaryotic transcription signals. The present version originated from a previous compilation published in an article (1) and is organized as a hierarchically ordered and documented "functional position set" (2) pointing to transcription initiation sites. All information is directly abstracted from scientific literature and is thusindependent of the EMBL sequence entry descriptions. As a consequence, many ofthe initiation sites referred to in EPD do not appear in corresponding EMBLfeature tables.

A coordinated updating procedure has been set up by the two laboratories thatwill ensure future compatibility between the position references in EPD and thesequence data in the main data library. Investigators who access EMBL via publicly available programs should be aware of the fact that software producers occasionally modify the sequence data in ways that render position referencesinaccurate. EPD is generally not compatible with sequence data of anotherrelease because EMBL sequence entries are not designed as stable data units.

The completeness and accuracy of EPD greatly benefits from user feedback. Anyreport of mistakes or omissions would be very much appreciated. Direct communication of newly published transcript mapping or gene expression data is alsowelcome. Please forward all correspondence to the address given on top of thisdocument. Use electronic mail if possible.