The Genome Reviews database provides up-to-date, standardized, and comprehensively annotated
views of the genomic sequence of organisms with completely deciphered genomes.
Currently, Genome Reviews contains information about the genomes of archaea, bacteria,
and selected lower eukaryotes. Expansion to viral genomes and additional eukaryotes is
planned. Genome Reviews is available for download in relational and flat file formats. In
this paper, the rationale behind the creation of Genome Reviews, the approach taken in standardizing
the data and its representation, and particular issues encountered in doing so are described.
This paper is part of the special issue of OMICS on data standards.
