October 1, 2010 (Vol. 30, No. 17)
URL:
http://microkit.biocuckoo.org
Rating:
Strong Points: Integrates gene infomation for seven model organisms
Weak Points: Cannot browse the database
Summary:
Although one must initially be skeptical of any information provided by “The Cuckoo Workgroup,” it turns out that the people behind MiCroKit are not as crazy as their name might suggest. The MiCroKit database, named as an abbreviation for Midbody, Centrosome, and Kinetochore, contains information on proteins that localize to these structures important in cell division. (The site promises that the proteins of the database do, in fact, localize to these structures, as they have been subjected to the “seeing is believing” test—fluorescent microscopy.) Content of the database includes scientific references, functional descriptions, and nucleotide/protein sequences. My only major complaint with the database is that there is no option to simply browse, something that I always find useful when I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for when I set out to look for it.