IMGT/HLA Database - a sequence database for the human major histocompatibility complex

The IMGT/HLA Database (www.ebi.ac.uk/imgt/hla/) specialises in sequences of polymorphic genes of the HLA system, the human major histocompatibility co mplex (MHC). The HLA complex is located within the 6p21.3 region on the sho rt arm of human chromosome 6 and contains more than 220 genes of diverse fu nction. Many of the genes encode proteins of the immune system and these in clude the 21 highly polymorphic HLA genes, which influence the outcome of c linical transplantation and confer susceptibility to a wide range of non-in fectious diseases. The database contains sequences for all HLA alleles offi cially recognised by the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System and provides users with online tools and facilities for their retrie val and analysis. These include allele reports, alignment tools and detaile d descriptions of the source cells. The online IMGT/HLA submission tool all ows both new and confirmatory sequences to be submitted directly to the WHO Nomenclature Committee. The latest version (release 1.7.0 July 2000) conta ins 1220 HLA alleles derived from over 2700 component sequences from the EM BL/GenBank/DDBJ databases. The HLA database provides a model which will be extended to provide specialist databases far polymorphic MHC genes of other species.