Genomic sequencing has made it clear that a large fraction of the genes specifying the core biological functions are shared by all eukaryotes. Knowledge of the biological role of such shared proteins in one organism can often be transferred to other organisms. The goal of the Gene Ontology Consortium is to produce a dynamic, controlled vocabulary that can be applied to all eukaryotes even as knowledge of gene and protein roles in cells is accumulating and changing. To this end, three independent ontologies accessible on the World-Wide Web (http://www.geneontology.org) are being constructed: biological process, molecular function and cellular component.The accelerating availability of molecular sequences, particularly the sequences of entire genomes, has transformed both the theory and practice of experimental biology. Where once biochemists characterized proteins by their diverse activities and abundances, and geneticists characterized genes by the phenotypes of their mutations, all biologists now acknowledge that there is likely to be a single limited universe of genes and proteins, many of which are conserved in most or all living cells. This recognition has fuelled a grand unification of biology; the information about the shared genes and proteins contributes to our understanding of all the diverse organisms that share them. Knowledge of the biological role of such a shared protein in one organism can certainly illuminate, and often provide strong inference of, its role in other organisms.Progress in the way that biologists describe and conceptualize the shared biological elements has not kept pace with sequencing. For the most part, the current systems of nomenclature for genes and their products remain divergent even when the experts appreciate the underlying similarities. Interoperability of genomic databases is limited by this lack of progress, and it is this major obstacle that the Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium was formed to address.

The Mouse Genome Database (MGD; http://www.informatics.jax.org) is the community model organism genetic and genome resource for the laboratory mouse. MGD is the authoritative source for biological reference data sets related to mouse genes, gene functions, phenotypes, and mouse models of human disease. MGD is the primary outlet for official gene, allele and mouse strain nomenclature based on the guidelines set by the International Committee on Standardized Nomenclature for Mice. In this report we describe significant enhancements to MGD, including two new graphical user interfaces: (i) the Multi Genome Viewer for exploring the genomes of multiple mouse strains and (ii) the Phenotype-Gene Expression matrix which was developed in collaboration with the Gene Expression Database (GXD) and allows researchers to compare gene expression and phenotype annotations for mouse genes. Other recent improvements include enhanced efficiency of our literature curation processes and the incorporation of Transcriptional Start Site (TSS) annotations from RIKEN’s FANTOM 5 initiative.

The Mouse Genome Database, (MGD, http://www.informatics.jax.org/), integrates genetic, genomic and phenotypic information about the laboratory mouse, a primary animal model for studying human biology and disease. MGD data content includes comprehensive characterization of genes and their functions, standardized descriptions of mouse phenotypes, extensive integration of DNA and protein sequence data, normalized representation of genome and genome variant information including comparative data on mammalian genes. Data within MGD are obtained from diverse sources including manual curation of the biomedical literature, direct contributions from individual investigator's laboratories and major informatics resource centers such as Ensembl, UniProt and NCBI. MGD collaborates with the bioinformatics community on the development of data and semantic standards such as the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Mammalian Phenotype (MP) Ontology. MGD provides a data-mining platform that enables the development of translational research hypotheses based on comparative genotype, phenotype and functional analyses. Both web-based querying and computational access to data are provided. Recent improvements in MGD described here include the association of gene trap data with mouse genes and a new batch query capability for customized data access and retrieval.

The Mouse Genome Database (MGD, http://www.informatics.jax.org) serves the international biomedical research community as the central resource for integrated genomic, genetic and biological data on the laboratory mouse. To facilitate use of mouse as a model in translational studies, MGD maintains a core of high-quality curated data and integrates experimentally and computationally generated data sets. MGD maintains a unified catalog of genes and genome features, including functional RNAs, QTL and phenotypic loci. MGD curates and provides functional and phenotype annotations for mouse genes using the Gene Ontology and Mammalian Phenotype Ontology. MGD integrates phenotype data and associates mouse genotypes to human diseases, providing critical mouse–human relationships and access to repositories holding mouse models. MGD is the authoritative source of nomenclature for genes, genome features, alleles and strains following guidelines of the International Committee on Standardized Genetic Nomenclature for Mice. A new addition to MGD, the Human–Mouse: Disease Connection, allows users to explore gene–phenotype–disease relationships between human and mouse. MGD has also updated search paradigms for phenotypic allele attributes, incorporated incidental mutation data, added a module for display and exploration of genes and microRNA interactions and adopted the JBrowse genome browser. MGD resources are freely available to the scientific community.

The Mouse Genome Database (MGD: http://www.informatics.jax.org) is the primary community data resource for the laboratory mouse. It provides a highly integrated and highly curated system offering a comprehensive view of current knowledge about mouse genes, genetic markers and genomic features as well as the associations of those features with sequence, phenotypes, functional and comparative information, and their relationships to human diseases. MGD continues to enhance access to these data, to extend the scope of data content and visualizations, and to provide infrastructure and user support that ensures effective and efficient use of MGD in the advancement of scientific knowledge. Here, we report on recent enhancements made to the resource and new features.