Repbase is a database of prototypic sequences representing repetitive DNA from different eukaryotic species. Repbase is being used in genome sequencing projects worldwide as a reference collection for masking and annotation of repetitive DNA (e.g. by RepeatMasker or CENSOR).

Repbase has been developed since 1990 under the direction of Jerzy Jurka (the founder).

Most prototypic sequences from Repbase are consensus sequences of large families and subfamilies of repeats. Smaller families are represented by sequence examples. Repbase describes many families of repeats unreported anywhere else. Therefore, it was referred to as an "electronic journal." Individual contributions are documented in Repbase version released in EMBL format. Repbase is often used in a FASTA format which removes references to the original authors. To remedy the situation, effective September 1 2001 we created a separate electronic journal, Repbase Reports, which publishes all new data to be compiled in Repbase. 

Acknowledgments

Repbase is currently supported by private funding raised by the Genetic Information Research Institute. Unfortunately, there is little awareness that Repbase is used by RepeatMasker, Censor, REPET etc., and it is not adequately cited. This has a negative impact on public funding. Without such funding, Repbase may become available by subscription only.

Comments and suggestions

If you have any comments or suggestions about improving Repbase or access to it, feel free to email us.

For more information on Repbase see:

• Bao, W., Kojima, K.K., Kohany, O. Repbase Update, a database of repetitive elements in eukaryotic genomes. Mob DNA, 2015;6:11
• Jurka, J., Kapitonov, V.V., Pavlicek, A., Klonowski, P., Kohany, O., Walichiewicz, J. (2005) Repbase Update, a database of eukaryotic repetitive elements. Cytogenetic and Genome Research 110:462-467
• Kapitonov, V.V., Pavlicek, A., Jurka, J. Anthology of human repetitive DNA. Encyclopedia of Molecular Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine (Vol. 1, pp. 251-305). Meyers, R.A., ed., Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA Weinheim (2004).
• Jurka, J., Kapitonov, V.V., Smit, A.F.A. Repetitive elements: detection. Nature Encyclopedia of the Human Genome (Cooper, N.D., ed.), vol. 5, pp. 9-14, Nature Publishing Group, London, New York and Tokyo (2003)
• Jurka, J. Repetitive DNA: detection, annotation, and analysis. In Introduction to Bioinformatics: A Theoretical and Practical Approach. (Krawetz, S.A. and Womble D.D., eds), chapter 8, pp. 151-167, Humana Press, Totowa NJ (2003).
• Jurka, J. Repbase Update: a database and an electronic journal of repetitive elements. Trends Genet. 9:418-420 (2000)
• Smit AF. (1999) Interspersed repeats and other mementos of transposable elements in mammalian genomes. Curr Opin Genet Dev 9:657-663
• Jurka, J. Repeats in genomic DNA: mining and meaning. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 8:333-337 (1998).

An example of a sequence entry to Repbase in EMBL format:

The following table shows the flat-file contents of Repbase. Users can also use our online browser interface to extract custom subsets of Repbase.

Name	Type of repeat families
simple.ref	Simple (macrosatellites)
humrep.ref	Human (primate)
humsub.ref	Alu (primate)
rodrep.ref	Rodent
mamrep.ref	Other mammalian
pseudo.ref	Retroposed psuedogenes
fngrep.ref	Fungi
fugrep.ref	Pufferfish
zebrep.ref	Zebrafish
zebunc.ref	Zebrafish unclassified
vrtrep.ref	Other vertebrate
celrep.ref	Caenorhabditis elegans
cinrep.ref	Ciona intestinalis
cinunc.ref	Ciona intestinalis unclassified
diarep.ref	Thalassiosira pseudonana
drorep.ref	Drosophila
angrep.ref	Anopheles gambiae
invrep.ref	Other Invertebrate (animals)
athrep.ref	Arabidopsis thaliana
oryrep.ref	Oryza sativa
dcotrep.ref	Other Dicot Plants
mcotrep.ref	Other Monocot Plants
grasrep.ref	Other Grass Plants
plnrep.ref	Other Plants
chlrep.ref	Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
cbrrep.ref	Caenorhabditis briggsae
spurep.ref	Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
nemrep.ref	Nematostella vectensis
tmpnemrep.ref	Nematostella vectensis (includes non-annotated TEs)
tmplanrep.ref	Branchiostoma floridae (includes non-annotated TEs)
tmpxenrep.ref	Xenopus tropicalis (includes non-annotated TEs)

Subdirectory ./appendix/ contains older versions of sequences that were updated or deleted at some point.