About KEGG
KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) is a database resource that integrates genomic, chemical, and systemic functional information. In particular, gene catalogs in the completely sequenced genomes are linked to higher-level systemic functions of the cell, the organism, and the ecosystem.
Major efforts have been undertaken to manually create a knowledge base for such systemic functions by capturing and summarizing experimental knowledge in computable forms; namely, in the forms of molecular networks called KEGG pathway maps, BRITE functional hierarchies, and KEGG modules. Continuous efforts have also been made to develop and improve the cross-species (ortholog-based) annotation procedure for linking genomes to the molecular networks.
As the result, KEGG is widely used as a reference knowledge base for integration and interpretation of large-scale datasets generated by genome sequencing and other high-throughput experimental technologies.
Reference (for background and basic concepts of KEGG):
Kanehisa, M.; "Post-genome Informatics", Oxford University Press (2000).
[Preface]
[Table of Contents]