GET /elink.fcgi

nih.gov:ncbi-nucleotide-api

Summary: Link to related records
Operation ID: linkNucleotideRecords
Auth: unknown
Description

Find related records in the same or different NCBI databases. Useful for finding publications, proteins, or gene records linked to a nucleotide.

Parameters (10)

WebEnv (string, query, optional)

Web environment from previous esearch.

api_key (string, query, optional)

NCBI API key for increased rate limits.

cmd (string, query, optional, default: neighbor)

Command mode: 'neighbor' finds related records, 'neighbor_score' includes scores, 'neighbor_history' stores results, etc.

Constraints: {'enum': ['neighbor', 'neighbor_score', 'neighbor_history', 'acheck', 'ncheck', 'lcheck', 'llinks', 'llinkslib', 'prlinks']}

db (string, query, optional)

Target database to find links in.

dbfrom (string, query, optional)

Source database. Use 'nuccore' for nucleotide.

Constraints: {'enum': ['nuccore']}

id (string, query, optional)

Comma-separated list of UIDs to find links for.

idtype (string, query, optional)

Type of identifier.

linkname (string, query, optional)

Specific link name to retrieve (e.g., 'nuccore_gene', 'nuccore_protein').

query_key (string, query, optional)

Query key from previous esearch.

retmode (string, query, optional)

Return format.

Constraints: {'enum': ['xml', 'json']}

Examples (3)

TitleTypeURLAction
Find protein records linked to nucleotide curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=nuccore&db=protein&id=4881873&retmode=json
Find gene records linked to nucleotide using specific link curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=nuccore&db=gene&id=4881873&linkname=nuccore_gene&retmode=json
Link multiple nucleotide IDs to publications with scores curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=nuccore&db=pubmed&id=4881873,4881874&cmd=neighbor_score&retmode=json

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 09:48:09.940109 200 608ms
2026-03-23 09:27:55.816819 200 727ms
2026-03-23 09:15:42.196062 200 12163ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 09:27:55.816819 266fea05a194 1bd4f747f42e
2026-03-23 09:48:09.940109 1bd4f747f42e 266fea05a194