uniprot-database

UniProt Database

Overview

UniProt is the world's leading comprehensive protein sequence and functional information resource. Search proteins by name, gene, or accession, retrieve sequences in FASTA format, perform ID mapping across databases, access Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL annotations via REST API for protein analysis.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Searching for protein entries by name, gene symbol, accession, or organism
• Retrieving protein sequences in FASTA or other formats
• Mapping identifiers between UniProt and external databases (Ensembl, RefSeq, PDB, etc.)
• Accessing protein annotations including GO terms, domains, and functional descriptions
• Batch retrieving multiple protein entries efficiently
• Querying reviewed (Swiss-Prot) vs. unreviewed (TrEMBL) protein data
• Streaming large protein datasets
• Building custom queries with field-specific search syntax

Core Capabilities

1. Searching for Proteins

Search UniProt using natural language queries or structured search syntax.

Common search patterns:

# Search by protein name
query = "insulin AND organism_name:\"Homo sapiens\""

# Search by gene name
query = "gene:BRCA1 AND reviewed:true"

# Search by accession
query = "accession:P12345"

# Search by sequence length
query = "length:[100 TO 500]"

# Search by taxonomy
query = "taxonomy_id:9606"  # Human proteins

# Search by GO term
query = "go:0005515"  # Protein binding

Use the API search endpoint: https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/search?query={query}&format={format}

Supported formats: JSON, TSV, Excel, XML, FASTA, RDF, TXT

2. Retrieving Individual Protein Entries

Retrieve specific protein entries by accession number.

Accession number formats:

• Classic: P12345, Q1AAA9, O15530 (6 characters: letter + 5 alphanumeric)
• Extended: A0A022YWF9 (10 characters for newer entries)

Retrieve endpoint: https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/{accession}.{format}

Example: https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P12345.fasta