Cell-type tags in Protein and DNA sequence databases

[Bob Phair]

Does anyone know if any of the protein or DNA databases includes a field
that identifies the cell type (or types) in which the protein or gene is
expressed? I often find that even EST or cDNA records fail to identify
the cell type of origin.  Occasionally, tissue-of-origin is specified,
but tissues contain a multitude of cell types, and since most libraries
are normalized, it seems to me that information on cell-type specific
expression is difficult, if not impossible, to extract. How will
integrative biologists begin to assemble the pathways and controls for a
given cell type if they cannot obtain a list of the proteins that are
expressed in the cell-type of interest?

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Robert D. Phair, Ph.D.  rphair at ix.netcom.com
BioInformatics Services  http://www.webcom.com/rphair
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