Title: Using the NCBI database to find a gene sequence
Course: BTEC-1100-301-302-303-F21 > Section: Module 3 - Polymerase Chain Reaction

The National Center for Biotechnology Database https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ is the best source for any information in the biological sciences.  It was one of the first large databases on the internet open to the public and is updated daily with new scientific information.  Your next step is to use NCBI to find the important information relevant to the gene we want to isolate and clone.  That gene is called bglA and codes for a beta-glucosidase protein.

The NCBI page for this gene can be found here

Beta-glucosidase proteins are an important category of enzymes that are involved in the breakdown of sugar polymers.  We want to isolate and produce this protein for use in reactions to breakdown cellulose to glucose.  That glucose can then be fermented into ethanol for use as a biofuel or as a starting material for other chemical manufacturing.

An overview of using cellulose to manufacture ethanol can be found here

To find information on a desired gene in NCBI is very straightforward, you simply need to search for the gene name and the species you want to isolate it from.  A tutorial from NCBI on how to do this is found here: NCBI Minute: Finding Genes in PubMed

The NCBI database is vast and ever changing.  You can spend hours learning everything about a specific gene just by following all the various links.  For the PCR experiment we need to find the gene sequence of bglA in order to design primers for amplification.  That sequence can be found by following the GenBank link

GenBank entries have information included other than the simple sequence.  If you simply want the gene sequence than the FASTA format is better

You are encouraged to explore NCBI. Find some biological process or gene that you are interested in and jump in.