Retrieving a Candidate Gene Sequence

Questions I must answer before I move forward:
  1. What candidate genes am I going to investigate and why do I think they might play a role in the biological process?
  2. Which database to I want to use to find a good starting sequence for my selected candidate genes?
  3. Do I want to download the DNA sequence or the protein sequence for each candidate gene, and why?

Step 1: Navigate to the DNA or protein database that you decide might be the best place to find a candidate gene
example: NCBI: NCBI Genome Resources
Step 2: Input the name of the candidate gene
example: heat shock protein
Step 3: Select the database that you want to search
example: UniGene
Step 4: Evaluate the results of the search. Did you get many hits or few? Is it obvious which one to go after or is it very confusing?

Step 5: Follow the link for the gene you choose to use and download the DNA or protein sequence

Step 6: Create a plain text file that contains the fasta-formatted sequence