Integrated curation and data mining for disease and phenotype models at the Rat Genome Database

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Genetics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Rats have been indispensable research models for over 150 years.
• Genome manipulation technologies enable the creation of precise rat disease models.
• The Rat Genome Database (RGD) is crucial for organizing and annotating these models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the organization and annotation of rat strains, diseases, and phenotypes within the Rat Genome Database (RGD).
• To highlight the integration of quantitative and qualitative phenotype data for disease model characterization.
• To provide guidance on utilizing RGD resources for identifying specific rat disease and phenotype models.

Main Methods:

• Curating nearly 1300 rat strains with disease and phenotype annotations.
• Establishing expected phenotype profile ranges through meta-analysis of inbred rat strains.
• Integrating disease and phenotype annotations with associated genes and alleles.

Main Results:

• RGD currently curates approximately 1300 rat strains with disease/phenotype annotations.
• About 11% of these strains have known allele associations.
• All annotations are integrated and accessible via strain, gene, and allele report pages.

Conclusions:

• RGD provides a comprehensive, integrated resource for identifying and utilizing rat disease and phenotype models.
• The database facilitates research by organizing complex genetic and phenotypic data.
• Researchers can efficiently find suitable rat models through RGD's search and browsing functionalities.