Some examples of GenBank accessions are
AF071988.1,
KT183498.1,
JQ922422.1, and
CP004440.2. GenBank uses this format for
standard GenBank sequence records and for individual assembled chromosomes (or parts of assembled chromosomes) in submitted genomic assemblies. GenBank uses different formats for
Transcriptome (TSA) and
Whole Genome Shotgun (WGS) records.
Unlike
RefSeq accession prefixes, GenBank accession prefixes carry little information. A prefix is allocated to a particular collaborator of the
International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC). For example, once the "KT" prefix has been allocated to GenBank, neither DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ) nor the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) will use it. There is no meaning in the digits that follow the prefix in the accession number. The version number indicates if the sequence in the record has remained as originally submitted (version 1) or the submitter followed up and updated the sequence in the record (version 2 or more). Only the original submitters can update their sequence(s). Of the above accession examples, the submitter
updated the CP004440.2 sequence once, hence version 2.