Grasping at molecular interactions and genetic networks in Drosophila melanogaster using FlyNets, an Internet database

FlyNets (http://gifts.univ-mrs.fr/FlyNets/FlyNets page,html) is a WWW datab ase describing molecular interactions (protein-DNA, protein-RNA and protein -protein) in the fly Drosophila melanogaster, It is composed of two parts, as follows. (i) FlyNets-base is a specialized database which focuses on mol ecular interactions involved in Drosophila development. The information con tent of FlyNets-base is distributed among several specific lines arranged a ccording to a GenBank-like format and grouped into five thematic zones to i mprove human readability. The FlyNets database achieves a high level of int egration with other databases such as FlyBase, EMBL, GenBank and SWISS-PROT through numerous hyperlinks, (ii) FlyNets-list is a very simple and more g eneral databank, the long-term goal of which is to report on any published molecular interaction occuring in the fly, giving direct web access to corr esponding abstracts in Medline and in FlyBase, In the context of genome pro jects, databases describing molecular interactions and genetic networks wil l provide a link at the functional level between the genome, the proteome a nd the transcriptome worlds of different organisms. Interaction databases t herefore aim at describing the contents, structure, function and behaviour of what we herein define as the interactome world.