EFI - Chemically-Guided Functional Profiling

This web resource is supported by a Research Resource from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R24GM141196-01).

The tools are available without charge or license to both academic and commercial users.

Reorganization of UniProtKB

With the current 2026_02 release, the UniProtKB database is reorganized to include an expanded number of Reference Proteomes to better capture biodiversity. This includes the removal of proteins from taxonomically unclassified organisms, i.e., those without a binomial species name (genus and species). The total number of accessions in UniProtKB has been reduced from 253,635,358 in the “legacy” 2025_03 release to 149,810,139 in the current 2026_02 release.

We are providing the option to select either the “legacy” 2025_03 database or the current UniProtKB database (now 2026_02) when generating SSNs. You can select the database in the “Database” accordion on the pages for the EFI-EST options, the EFI-GNT tool, and the Taxonomy Tool. We suggest that you compare the SSNs, GNNs, and GNDs generated from both databases as you explore the information you are seeking.

Update of EFI Tools

The EFI Tools are being upgraded on 10/21/26. While the updated site is functionally identical to the old site, jobs run prior to that date will only be available through the results link in the finalization email (not the Previous Jobs tab). User accounts created on the old site will no longer be available, and users are encouraged to create new accounts when the upgraded site becomes available.

This site uses the CGFP-ShortBRED programs (https://github.com/biobakery/shortbred and http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/shortbred).

For more information on CGFP-ShortBRED, see

Levin, B. J., Huang, Y. Y., Peck, S. C., Wei, Y., Martínez-del Campo, A., Marks, J. A., Franzosa, E. A., Huttenhower, C., Balskus, E. P. A prominent glycyl radical enzyme in human gut microbiomes metabolizes trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline. Science 355, eaai8386 (2017). (DOI: 10.1126/science.aai8386)

For more information on ShortBRED, see

Kaminski J., Gibson M. K., Franzosa E. A., Segata N., Dantas G., Huttenhower C. High-specificity targeted functional profiling in microbial communities with ShortBRED. PLoS Comput Biol. 2015 Dec 18;11(12):e1004557. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004557

These programs use data computed by MicrobeCensus.

Nayfach, S. and Pollard, K.S. Average genome size estimation improves comparative metagenomics and sheds light on the functional ecology of the human microbiome. Genome Biology 2015;16(1):51.

Portions of the metagenome data used on this site come from the Human Microbiome Project.

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium. Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome. Nature 486, 207-214 (14 June 2012). DOI: 10.1038/nature11234

The Human Microbiome Project Consortium. A framework for human microbiome research. Nature 486, 215-221 (14 June 2012). DOI: 10.1038/nature11209

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