A skeletal gene database.

Systematic organization of documented data coupled with ready accessibility is of great value to research. Catalogs and databases are created specifically to meet this purpose. The Skeletal Gene Database evolves as part of the Skeletal Genome Anatomy Project (SGAP), an ongoing multi-institute collaborative effort, to study the functional genome of bone and other skeletal tissues. The primary objective of the Skeletal Gene Database is to create a contemporary list of skeletal-related genes, offering the following information for each gene: gene name, protein name, cellular function, disease(s) caused by mutation of the corresponding gene, chromosomal location, LocusLink number, gene size, exon/intron numbers, messenger RNA (mRNA) coding region size, protein size/molecular weight, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) number of the gene, UniGene assignment, and PubMed reference. The database includes genes already known and published in the literature as well as novel genes not yet characterized but known to be expressed in skeletal tissue. It will be posted on the web for easy access and swift referencing. The data will be updated in tempo with current and future research, thereby providing an invaluable service to the scientific community interested in obtaining information on bone-related genes.