PHENODB - AN INTEGRATED CLIENT SERVER DATABASE FOR LINKAGE AND POPULATION-GENETICS/

In this paper we describe PhenoDB, an Internet-accessible client/serve r database application for population and linkage genetics. PhenoDB st ores genetic marker data on pedigrees and populations. A database for population and linkage genetics requires two core functions: data mana gement tasks, such as interactive validation during data entry and edi ting, and data analysis tasks, such as generating summary population s tatistics and performing linkage analyses. In PhenoDB we attempt to ma ke these tasks as easy as possible. The client/server architecture all ows efficient management and manipulation of large datasets via an eas y-to-use graphical interface. PhenoDB data (73 populations, 34 pedigre es, approximately 4200 individuals, and close to 80,000 typings) are s tored in a generic format that can be readily exported to (or imported from) the file formats required by various existing analysis programs such as LIPED and Lathrop and Lalouel's Multipoint Linkage. PhenoDB a llows performance of complex ad-hoc queries and can generate reports f or use in project management. Finally, PhenoDB can produce statistical summaries such as allele frequencies, phenotype frequencies, and Chi- square tests of Hardy-Weinberg ratios of population/pedigree data. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.