PubReading [66] - The 2021 Nucleic Acids Research database issue and the online molecular biology database collection - D. Rigden and X. Fernandez

<p>The 2021 <strong>Nucleic Acids Research</strong> database Issue contains 189 papers spanning a wide range of biological fields and investigation. It includes 89 papers reporting on new databases and 90 covering recent changes to resources previously published in the<strong> Issue</strong>. A further ten are updates on databases most recently published elsewhere. Seven new databases focus on <strong>COVID-19</strong> and SARS-CoV- 2 and many others offer resources for studying the virus. Major returning nucleic acid databases include <strong>NONCODE</strong>, <strong>Rfam</strong> and <strong>RNAcentral</strong>. Protein family and <strong>domain databases</strong> include <strong>COG</strong>,<strong> Pfam</strong>, <strong>SMART</strong> and <strong>Panther</strong>. Protein structures are covered by <strong>RCSB PDB</strong> and dispersed proteins by PED and MobiDB. In metabolism and signalling, <strong>STRING</strong>, <strong>KEGG </strong>and <strong>WikiPathways</strong> are featured, along with returning KLIFS and new DKK and KinaseMD, all focused on kinases. <strong>IMG/M</strong> and <strong>IMG/VR</strong> update in the microbial and viral genome resources section, while human and model organism genomics resources include <strong>Flybase</strong>, <strong>Ensembl</strong> and <strong>UCSC Genome Browser</strong>. Cancer studies are covered by updates from <strong>canSAR </strong>and <strong>PINA</strong>, as well as newcomers <strong>CNCdatabase</strong> and <strong>Oncovar</strong> for cancer drivers. Plant comparative genomics is catered for by updates from <strong>Gramene</strong> and <strong>GreenPhylDB</strong>. The entire Database Issue is freely available online on the Nucleic Acids Research website (<a href="https://academic.oup.com/nar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://academic.oup.com/nar</a>). The <strong>NAR</strong> online Molecular Biology Database Collection has been substantially updated, revisiting nearly 1000 entries, adding 90 new resources and eliminating 86 obsolete dat