Databases and Systems

genetics community fostered the early development of data compilations and
consensus map building.
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Early compilations of mouse genetic data pre-date electronic databases. The first
gene description catalog for the mouse was published from The Jackson Laboratory
in 1941 by Dr. George Snell [1]. Dr. Margaret Green should be credited as the
developer of the first mouse genetics database when, in the 1950s, she began an
index card file system delineating published and personally communicated results of
experimental crosses. These formed the basis of early versions of a composite mouse
genetic linkage map [2-6]. Later, she also compiled descriptions of mutant and
polymorphic genes in the mouse, the centerpiece for the first edition of Genetic
Variants and Strains of the Laboratory Mouse [7] published in 1981. These gene
description data (later known as the Mouse Locus Catalog, MLC) were maintained as
a word-processing document.
In the 1980s, GBASE (Genomic Database of the Mouse), the first online resource
of mouse genomic information, was developed by Drs. Roderick and Davisson [8].
GBASE provided a single menu for user access to three independent data sets:
Locusbase, an Ingres database with a character cell interface, contained summarized
mapping data initially populated from Dr. Green’s cards; MATRIX, with a commandline
interface, contained strain-by-locus allele data; and MLC, with an IRX text
searching interface, contained synoptic descriptions of genes.
In 1989, the first incarnation of the Encyclopedia of the Mouse Genome
(Encyclopedia), a suite of software tools for viewing mouse genetic data, was
developed through the collaborative work of Drs. J.H. Nadeau, L.E. Mobraaten, and
J.T. Eppig [9]. This software provided intuitive, graphical user interfaces for
browsing genetic and cytogenetic maps, associated references, notes, and gene
descriptions. Its purpose was to provide simultaneous access to information derived
from different database sources and to provide means of querying those various
sources using a single computer mouse ‘click’. The Encyclopedia offered graphical
browsing of the Chromosome Committee reports for the mouse and the MIT Genome
Center SSLP maps under both UNIX and Macintosh operating systems.
Also during the 1980s, a number of domain specific databases were developed to
fill specific research needs and produce periodic publications. Among these were a
database containing primary haplotype mapping data to support linkage analysis and
map drawing programs, a database of probes, clones, and molecular markers
characterizing these new molecular reagents and associated RFLP data [c.ƒ., 10], and
a database of homology relationships between the mouse and other mammalian
species [11]. A compilation of the characteristics of 728 laboratory mouse strains
also was initiated during this period by synthesizing information from Cancer
Research listings about inbred strains dating back to 1952 [ 12].
In 1992, the Mouse Genome Database was initiated with NIH funding. Several
significant challenges came with MGD’s early development. Initial requirement
analysis, database design, and implementation had to be accomplished in a backdrop
of continued maintenance of the existing GBASE online resource. The pre-existing