The Portable Dictionary of the Mouse Genome: a personal database for gene mapping and molecular biology

The Portable Dictionary of the Mouse Genome is a database for personal computers that contains information on approximately 10,000 loci in the mouse, along with data on homologs in several other mammalian species, including human, rat, cat, cow, and pig. Key features of the dictionary are its compact size, its network independence, and the ability to convert the entire dictionary to a wide variety of common application programs. Another significant feature is the integration of DNA sequence accession data. Loci in the dictionary can be rapidly resorted by chromosomal position, by type, by human homology, or by gene effect. The dictionary provides an accessible, easily manipulated set of data that has many uses--from a quick review of loci and gene nomenclature to the design of experiments and analysis of results. The Portable Dictionary is available in several formats suitable for conversion to different programs and computer systems. It can be obtained on disk or from Internet Gopher servers (mickey.utmen.edu or anat4.utmen.edu), an anonymous FTP site (nb.utmem.edu in the directory pub/genedict), and a World Wide Web server (http://mickey.utmem.edu/front.html).