Gene Expression Databases

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a comparative overview of present databases and identifies issues that arise from the nature of the data. The expression of a gene can be established or inferred in a number of ways. The initial concept of a gene and evidence for its expression arises from studies of phenotype and inheritance. Gene-expression databases have been developed to reflect the interests of the associated groups, sometimes as an extension to existing systems holding. The full potential of these gene-expression resources will only be realized when the user has the option to pose complex queries, not just with spatial and temporal relationships, but also with links to sequence, mapping and functional data. The use of standard text for gene names and symbols is important for searching and interpreting the data and provides a key link for relating information in different databases. Sufficiently detailed information on the assay method used to obtain the information is required to fully understand the data in terms of specificity, sensitivity and resolution in space and time. It is found that relationships between data in different databases can be established by query provided that there is commonality of meaning of terms or key words.