What is the difference between RefSeq and GenBank?
The GenBank archival sequence database includes publicly available DNA sequences submitted from individual laboratories and large-scale sequencing projects. GenBank accession numbers are assigned to these submitted sequences. Submitted sequence data is exchanged between NCBIs GenBank, EMBL Data Library (EMBL) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) to achieve comprehensive worldwide coverage. As an archival database, GenBank can be very redundant for some loci. GenBank sequence records are owned by the original submitter and can not be altered by a third party. RefSeq sequences are derived from GenBank and provide non-redundant curated data representing our current knowledge of known genes. Some records include additional sequence information that was never submitted to an archival database but is available in the literature. Some sequence records are provided through collaboration; the underlying primary sequence data is available in GenBank, but may not be available in any one GenBank
