dbSNP: a database of single nucleotide polymorphisms

In response to a need for a general catalog of genome variation to address the large-scale sampling designs required by association studies, gene mapp ing and evolutionary biology, the National Cancer for Biotechnology Informa tion (NCBI) has established the dbSNP database. Submissions to dbSNP will b e integrated with other sources of information at NCBI such as GenBank, Pub Med, LocusLink and the Human Genome Project data, The complete contents of dbSNP are available to the public at website:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SN P, Submitted SNPs can also be downloaded via anonymous FTP at ftp://ncbi. n lm.nih.gov/snp/.