EcoCyc-Mobile provides a streamlined mobile interaction for EcoCyc, a bioinformatics database that describes the genome and the biochemical machinery of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655. Use EcoCyc-Mobile in the laboratory, in the classroom, at a conference, or in the library.

EcoCyc is an electronic reference source for E. coli biologists, and for biologists who work with related microorganisms.

Features
- Gene and gene-product-based search
- Curated summaries of most E. coli genes
- Gene and protein sequence information and protein
feature annotations
- Regulation summary diagrams describe regulatory
influences on a gene
- Reactions catalyzed by a gene product
- Gene Ontology terms
- Links to other popular biological databases
- Gene bookmarks

Genome Annotation
A staff of five full-time curators updates the annotation of the E. coli genome on an ongoing basis using a literature-based curation strategy. Mini-review summaries of E. coli gene products can be found in EcoCyc protein and RNA pages.

Literature-Based Curation
Curation is the process of manually refining and updating a bioinformatics database. The EcoCyc project uses a literature-based curation approach in which database updates are based on evidence in the experimental literature. EcoCyc is largely up to date with respect to its curation activities. As of November 2010, EcoCyc has encoded information from more than 20,900 publications.

Curators collect gene, protein, pathway, and compound names and synonyms. They classify genes and gene products using the Gene Ontology and MultiFun ontology, and they classify pathways within the Pathway Tools pathway ontology. Protein complex components and the stoichiometry of these subunits are captured; cellular localization of polypeptides and protein complexes is entered, as are experimentally determined protein molecular weights; enzyme activities and any enzyme prosthetic groups, cofactors, activators, or inhibitors are captured. Operon structure and gene regulation information are encoded. Textual summaries with extensive citations are authored by curators. Within the summaries for proteins, RNAs, pathways, and operons, curators capture additional information not captured in the highly structured database fields of EcoCyc. For example, curators use the free-text summary sections to capture phenotypes caused by mutation, depletion, or overproduction of each gene product; any genetic interactions known; protein domain architecture and structural studies; similarity to other proteins; or any functional complementation experiments that have been described.