April 15, 2016 (Vol. 36, No. 8)
URL:
http://zhanglab.ccmb.med.umich.edu/GLASS
Rating:
Strong Points: Large database, easy to search
Weak Points: None
Summary:
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise an incredibly large and diverse class of membrane proteins that serve a number of functions throughout the body. Given their importance, the identification of specific GPCR-ligand interactions is of specific interest to the scientific and medical communities. GLASS (the GPCR-Ligand Association Database), created by the Zhang laboratory at the University of Michigan, is a repository for experimentally validated GPCR-ligand interactions. As of December 2015, the database included over 800,000 experimental data entries, among which there were close to 450,000 unique GPCR-ligand entries. Users can browse or search the database, and all data can be downloaded. For a given GPCR, information such as the species, amino acid sequence, and synonyms are given, as well as the list of known ligands. Users can in turn select individual ligands to learn more.