Model Organism Database List

After the completion of the Human Genome Project(HGP), bioinformatics has turned into a data rich science. There is an explosive growth in biological data. Sequencing data from large scale sequencing projects not even care for conventional research journal publication. Scientists can directly submit data to storing centres called databases. The scope of the biological databases is very high. It helps to understand the wealth of biological information hidden in the available vast information of DNA sequences, RNA sequences, structures,literature and other biological data.

Biological databases are the collection of scientific data and information generated by scientists regarding a particular biological aspect, grouped and well documented .There are many types of database available to researchers in the field of biology. These include primary sequence databases for the storage of raw experimental data.Secondary databases that contain information on sequence patterns and motifs, and organism specific databases tailored for research working on a particular species.

Model Organism Databases

These are many organism specific databases that provide information and resources for those researches working on a particular species. The number of organism - specific databases is growing as more genome projects initiated. Organism specific data ere widely distributed on the web. In order to find and interrogate databases on specific organisms, it is necessary to use a gateway site to access relevant databases and information resources. Discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the working of other organisms.

List of Model Organism Databases

                                         Scientific Name (Organism) Database URL
I. Mammalian Models

• Mus musculus (Mouse)  MGI-Mouse Genome Informatics  http://www.informatics.jax.org/
• Rattus norvegicus (Rat) RGD-Rat Genome Database  http://rgd.mcw.edu/

II. Non Mammalian Models

• Escherichia coli (E.coli) EcoGene http://www.ecogene.org/
• Escherichia coli (E.coli) Colibri http://genolist.pasteur.fr/Colibri/
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Yeast) SGD-Saccharomyces Genome Database http://www.yeastgenome.org/
• Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans) AceDB- A C.elegans DataBase http://www.acedb.org/
• Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit Fly) FlyBase http://flybase.org/
• Zebra fish ZFIN:The Zebrafish Model Organism Database http://zfin.org/zf_info/dbase/db.html

III. Other Model

• Arabidopsis thaliana MAtDB-MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana DataBase http://mips.helmholtz-muenchen.de/plant/athal/

Sequence databases generally include sequences from all resource organisms, and contain data relevant to viruses, bacteria, animals,plants and other microorganisms. However, in model organism the databases include the sequences and other data related to a particular organisms. Their numbers increase due to the successful completion of several genome projects. Such databases contain additional information like the gene expression, genome maps and relevant scientific literature. They also provide links to other resources for contacting researchers.