DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS FOR GENE-EXPRESSION ARRAYS

Microarray technology makes it possible to simultaneously study the ex pression of thousands of genes during a single experiment. We have dev eloped an information system, ArrayDB, to manage and analyse large-sca le expression data. The underlying relational database was designed to allow flexibility in the nature and structure of data input and also in the generation of standard or customized reports through a web-brow ser interface. ArrayDB provides varied options for data retrieval and analysis tools that should facilitate the interpretation of complex hy bridization results. A sampling of ArrayDB storage, retrieval and anal ysis capabilities is available (www.nhgri.nih.gov/DIR/LCG/15K/HTML/), along with information on a set of approximately 15,000 genes used to fabricate several widely used microarrays. Information stored in Array DB is used to provide integrated gene expression reports by linking ar ray target sequences with NCBl's Entrez retrieval system, UniGene and KEGG pathway views. The integration of externa I information resources is essential in interpreting intrinsic patterns and relationships in large-scale gene expression data.