Purpose.
The Prokaryotic Protein Phosphatase Database provides ready access to information from the primary scientific literature concerning those enzymes from prokaryotic organisms (i.e. members of the domains Archaea and Bacteria) that catalyze the hydrolysis of the phosphoester bonds in protein-bound phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and/or phosphotyrosine residues. Where known, the identity of likely physiologic substrate phosphoproteins are included. Links enable users to quickly access further information concerning the protein phosphatase of interest from PubMed, GenBank, and UniProt databases.

Peter J. Kennelly http://www.biochem.vt.edu/faculty/kennelly.html
Susannah Wurgler-Murphy
Douglas M. King

with the support of the Department of Biochemistry (http://www.biochem.vt.edu) and Virginia Institute for Genomics [VIGEN] at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the National Science Foundation.

Sources for the information contained in the database.
It is the explicit policy of the Prokaryotic Protein Phosphatase Database to only include information from journals subject to peer review. In addition, in order to be included the supporting literature must present sufficient information, including a description of the methods employed and the primary data obtained, to enable a user to independently evaluate their contents. No unpublished information or information from unrefereed sources (e.g. published abstracts) will be included. Literature citations are provided for all information contained in the Prokaryotic Protein Phosphatase Database. Users are encouraged to access the references cited for more complete and detailed data. Because space limitations preclude the inclusion of every relevant paper, users are encouraged to conduct their own independent literature search with the assistance of the information provided in the Prokaryotic Protein Phosphatase Database.

Search options.
The Prokaryotic Protein Phosphatase Database may be searched using a variety of criteria either singly or in combination. These include:

• the name of the protein phosphatase of interest.
• the name of the gene encoding the protein.
• the accession number for a gene or protein from the GenBank or UniProt databases.
• a specific protein phosphatase superfamily, e.g. PPP, PPM, LMW PTP, etc.
• the nature of the phosphoamino acid residue(s) hydrolyzed.
• the genus or species of an organism of interest.
• all or part of a literature citation, e.g. author name, title, journal.

or write:

Peter J. Kennelly
Department of Biochemistry-0308
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061