UNIQEM, a microbiological database: Problems and prospects

The UNIQEM database, designed to accumulate general microbiological data, is currently used to store and make available information about microorganisms studied and maintained at the Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences. UNIQEM can accumulate and maintain list-form information on a wide range of microorganisms (a property database) and facilitates collecting, processing, and publishing diverse data having to do with these microorganisms and their properties (a catalogue database). The database supports the retrieval of microorganisms by specifying an arbitrary set of their properties and has the potential for eventually evolving into a computer instrument for unattended identification of microorganisms. UNIQEMAkhlynin, D.S. and Gal’chenko, V.F., 1998.