The Mouse Genome Database (MGD): integration nexus for the laboratory mouse

The Mouse Genome Database (MGD) is the community database resource for the laboratory mouse, a key model organism for interpreting the human genome an d for understanding human biology and disease (http://www.informatics.jax.o rg). MGD provides standard nomenclature and consensus map positions for mou se genes and genetic markers; it provides a curated set of mammalian homolo gy records, user-defined chromosomal maps, experimental data sets and the d efinitive mouse 'gene to sequence' reference set for the research community . The integration and standardization of these data sets facilitates the tr ansition between mouse DNA sequence, gene and phenotype annotations. A rece nt focus on allele and phenotype representations enhances the ability of MG D to organize and present data for exploring the relationship between genot ype and phenotype. This link between the genome and the biology of the mous e is especially important as phenotype information grows from large mutagen esis projects and genotype information grows from large-scale sequencing pr ojects.