biology

Histone Database

Histone Database is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Histone Database rather than just read about it. In short: The Histone Database is a comprehensive database of histone protein sequences including histone variants, classified by histone types and variants, maintained by National Center for Biotechnology Information. The creation of the Histone Database was stimulated by the X-ray analysis of the structure of the nucleosomal core histone octamer followed by the application of a novel motif searching method to a group of pro…

Histone Database — illustration

Key takeaways

Histone Database belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Histone Database to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Histone Database from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Histone Database is a comprehensive database of histone protein sequences including histone variants, classified by histone types and variants, maintained by National Center for Biotechnology Information. The creation of the Histone Database was stimulated by the X-ray analysis of the structure of the nucleosomal core histone octamer followed by the application of a novel motif searching method to a group of proteins containing the histone fold motif in the early-mid-1990. The first version of the Histone Database was released in 1995 and several updates have been released since then. Current version of the Histone Database - HistoneDB 2.0 - with variants - includes sequence and structural annotations for all five histone types (H3, H4, H2A, H2B, H1) and major histone variants within each histone type. It has many interactive tools to explore and compare sequences of different histone variants from various organisms. The core of the database is a manually curated set of histone sequences grouped into 30 different variant subsets with variant-specific annotations. The curated set is supplemented by an automatically extracted set of histone sequences from the non-redundant protein database using algorithms trained on the curated set. The interactive web site supports various searching strategies in both datasets: browsing of phylogenetic trees; on-demand generation of multiple sequence alignments with feature annotations; classification of histone-like sequences and browsing of the taxonomic diversity for every histone variant.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Histone Database

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Histone Database claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Histone Database before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Histone Database ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Histone Database

In research: Histone Database appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Histone Database in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Histone Database is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Protein databases, Proteins, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Histone Database outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Histone Database in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Histone Database means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Histone Database out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Histone Database in simple terms?

Why does Histone Database matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Histone Database?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Histone Database.