Tips for scientists querying a database

1. What goes in is what comes out – Gramene takes publicly available information and puts it in the database. If information is not yet available, it cannot be in the database. It also takes time to enter data, so although Gramene tries to remain current, you may sometimes find that it states that something is “Currently Under Curation”. Gramene makes 4 releases a year.




2. Knowledge grows/changes – New information becomes old, old information becomes obsolete, some data is wrong.



3. Interpretation is up to you. You may wish to refer to the literature source to view the author’s interpretations.



4. Be persistent – there are several routes to a destination, and there may be some roadblocks or dead-ends. Try multiple queries using different terms. Get help if you can’t find what you’re looking for, curators will let you know how to locate it or if it’s not currently available. Your feedback is crucial for determining future developments to the database – database developers don’t know what you want unless you ask for it.



5. Be patient – query results take time, especially those involving maps.