[NHCOLL-L:2021] Re: Genbank and museum voucher numbers for sequences

[Una Smith]

Andy Bentley <ABentley at ku.edu> wrote:
>I have asked a number of our users if there is any prerequisite for them to
>submit museum voucher numbers along with sequences to Genbank and none of
>them could answer my question (most didn't think so) - and none of them had
>lodged voucher numbers with their sequences.  I also contacted Genbank with
>the same query and got a similar answer.  Is there anyone out there who can
>answer this question?

Yes.  Your users are correct, GenBank requires no voucher or other
provenance data, nor does it have a specific field for such data.
However, GenBank does have a mechanism for passing such data on to
users.  That mechanism is the notes field.  The HIV/AIDS research 
community uses the notes field extensively to submit data in GenBank
accession records...for explicit use by the HIV Sequence Database 
here at Los Alamos.  Examine some HIV records in GenBank, and you
will see that many include data about where, when, and from whom
the source sample was collected;  also the subtype (taxonomic group)
to which the sequence belongs.  GenBank is just a conduit for this
data, and has no role in defining policy or procedure wrt vouchers.
I think this role properly lies in the research community, not with
GenBank, and one way to perform this role is to offer your users
helpful guidance re how best to prepare GenBank accession records
so that you and all other users can identify data derived from the
specimens you curate.
 
	Una Smith
	Postdoc
	HIV Sequence Database

Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS K-710, Los Alamos, NM  87545