The easiest way to grab a few sequences is through the NCBI web portal. This method is perfect for beginners or researchers who only need a handful of files.
Look for files ending in .fna.gz (nucleotide FASTA) or .faa.gz (amino acid FASTA). how to download fasta file from ncbi
Search for Your SequenceEnter your search terms, such as a gene name (e.g., "BRCA1"), an organism (e.g., "Homo sapiens"), or an accession number (e.g., "NM_007294"). Press Enter. The easiest way to grab a few sequences
Bioinformaticians often automate downloads using Entrez Direct (EDirect). This allows you to fetch sequences directly into your terminal without ever opening a browser. Once EDirect is installed, you can use a command like this: Search for Your SequenceEnter your search terms, such
You can download these directly via your browser or use a tool like wget or curl in your terminal. Advanced Method: NCBI Entrez Direct (Command Line)