● http://npd.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/

Proteins that localize to the nucleus are the centre of attention in the Nuclear Protein Database (NPD). This searchable database contains information on more than 1,000 vertebrate nuclear proteins, mainly from mouse and human.

The web site was an initiative undertaken by Wendy Bickmore's Group at the MRC-Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, with the aim of making data available on new nuclear proteins. However, it soon became clear that such a database would be valuable to the entire community, so it was expanded to include published data on nuclear proteins. Knowledge of the subnuclear localization of proteins can be important in understanding the regulation and function of the genome, and can also provide clues to the protein function.

You can search the entire database, or you can browse by subnuclear compartment or by domain/motif. The compartment browsing option takes you to a visually appealing, 'clickable' graphic of the nucleus, and gives you information on each compartment and the associated proteins. There are also useful links to nuclear structure and function resources, other nuclear protein databases and bioinformatics resources.

For each protein, the subnuclear compartment is reported, if known, together with information on the isoelectric point, protein size and sequence (including any repeats, motifs or domains). Protein functions are described using Gene Ontology™ terms, and links to other databases — for example, SwissProt and PubMed — are included where possible. In the future, the Bickmore Group would like to include more data from other groups, and hope to develop partnerships with other database projects.