Mooshka: a system for the management of multidimensional gene expression data in situ

Abstract

At present, observational information about gene expression patterns is becoming available in unprecedented amounts. Scientific progress in developmental biology as well as improved understanding of genetically based diseases depends on the timely and full exploitation of this data. Thus it is very important to have easily accessible databases storing this valuable information on line. We address the problem of developing an environment for efficient management, retrieval and analysis of gene expression data in situ in the context of a particular biological system, namely the segment determination system in fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Our design is based on the array DBMS RasDaMan. We demonstrate the advantages for application of this DBMS for the management of gene expression data in situ on several examples. Using RasDaMan the Mooshka database ( http://urchin.splcas.ru/Mooshka) is currently being developed to facilitate processing and analysis of the information on the segmentation gene expression. We show that RasDaMan allows to extend the functionality of this database fast and efficiently and enables to take into account personal requirements of different user groups. This is especially important when designing a database open for inclusion of new data and query types.