KEGG is a collection of online database

Online database

An online database is a database accessible from a network, including from the Internet.It differs from a local database, held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD....

s dealing with genome

Genome

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

s, enzymatic pathways, and biological chemicals. The PATHWAY database records networks of molecular interactions in the cells, and variants of them specific to particular organisms. As of July 2011, KEGG has switched to a subscription model and access to via FTP is no longer free.

Introduction

The KEGG, the Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, was initiated by the Japanese human genome programme in 1995. According to the developers they consider KEGG to be a "computer representation" of the biological system

Biological system

In biology, a biological system is a group of organs that work together to perform a certain task. Common systems, such as those present in mammals and other animals, seen in human anatomy, are those such as the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, etc.A group of systems...

. The KEGG database can be utilized for modeling and simulation, browsing and retrieval of data. It is a part of the systems biology

Systems biology

Systems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based inter-disciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in biological systems, claiming that it uses...

 approach.

KEGG maintains five main databases:

• KEGG Atlas
• KEGG Pathway
• KEGG Genes
• KEGG Ligand
• KEGG BRITE

Databases

KEGG connects known information on molecular interaction networks, such as pathways and complexes (this is the Pathway Database), information about genes and protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

s generated by genome projects (including the gene database) and information about biochemical compounds and reactions (including compound and reaction databases). These databases are different networks, known as the protein network, and the chemical universe respectively. There are efforts in progress to add to the knowledge of KEGG, including information regarding ortholog clusters in the KO (KEGG Orthology) database.

KEGG Pathways:

• Metabolism
  Metabolism
  Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
  
  
• Genetic Information Processing
• Environmental Information Processing
• Cellular Processes
• Human Disease
  Disease
  A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
  
  s
• Drug development
  Drug development
  Drug development is a blanket term used to define the process of bringing a new drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery...
  
  

Ligand Database:

• Compound
• Drug
• Glycan
• Reaction
• RPAIR (Reactant pair alignments)
• Enzyme

See also

• Comparative Toxicogenomics Database
  Comparative Toxicogenomics Database
  The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database is a public website and research tool that curates scientific data describing relationships between chemicals, genes, and human diseases....
  
   - CTD integrates KEGG pathways with toxicogenomic and disease data
• ConsensusPathDB
  ConsensusPathDB
  The ConsensusPathDB is a molecular functional interaction database, integrating information on protein interactions, signaling, metabolism and gene regulation in humans. ConsensusPathDB includes functional interactions from 12 databases...
  
  , a molecular functional interaction database, integrating information from KEGG
• Uniprot
  UniProt
  UniProt is a comprehensive, high-quality and freely accessible database of protein sequence and functional information, many of which are derived from genome sequencing projects...
  
  
• Gene ontology
  Gene Ontology
  The Gene Ontology, or GO, is a major bioinformatics initiative to unify the representation of gene and gene product attributes across all species...
  
  

External links

• Home page
• Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
• The entry for KEGG in MetaBase
  MetaBase
  MetaBase is a user-contributed database of biological databases, listing all the biological databases currently available on the internet. The initial release of MetaBase was derived entirely from the content of the Nucleic Acids Research 2007 Database Issue...