Numerous genome sequencing projects for different organisms have produced catalogs of genes and related products. However, the functional application of this information is often not available or is not well organized. Led by Minour Kaneshia, the KEGG Project is an attempt to bridge the gap between the genes and their functional implications. This site contains a searchable database of...

The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, an ongoing project from Kyoto University, has recently updated this collection of molecular interaction information. The Introduction section provides substantial information on the project background and data, as well as user guides and manuals to help users orient themselves to the database. Users can search for information on specific interactions in...

The color graphics data for meiotic double-stranded breaks were provided in tabular and graphical form by Drs. Frederic Baudat and Alain Nicolas of the Institut Curie, Section de Recherche. The data are part of their published study, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists, Volume 94, pages 5213-5218. A link to the original article (available in HTML or .pdf formats) is...

This website, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), features a Genetics course designed for undergraduates. This is one of many free on-line publications of course materials provided by MIT as part of the OpenCourseWare project (first reported on in the _NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences_ January, 24, 2003). This course was created by MIT Professors Chris Kaiser and David...

The journal Nature presents this online special feature on the recently sequenced Y chromosome. The Web site offers a number of free informative resources, including an account of the sequencing project as well as related scientific papers and letters published in the journal. An archive of Y chromosome-related articles are also available for registered users (no cost for registration). In all,...

The National Center for Biotechnology Information presents the first full release of all NCBI Reference Sequence (RefSeq) records. RefSeq "aims to provide a comprehensive, integrated, non-redundant set of sequences, including genomic DNA, transcript (RNA), and protein products for major research organisms." The database currently includes over 785,000 proteins from numerous organisms, and...

The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database "is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders authored and edited by Dr. Victor A. McKusick and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere, and developed for the World Wide Web by NCBI, the National Center for Biotechnology Information." OMIM was designed primarily for health professionals working with genetic disorders,...

This website from Rockefeller University in New York contains "a gene expression atlas of the central nervous system of the mouse based on bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)." GENSAT, or the Gene Expression Nervous System Atlas, contains brain slice images of BAC transgenic mice at the embryonic, postnatal (7 days old), and adult stages, stained to show areas of gene activity. The website...

Over the last few weeks, scientists announced they have completed mapping Chromosome 21, the chromosome associated with Down's syndrome, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig's disease, and Alzheimer's. Researchers hope the achievement will lead to treatments in the future. Nature Magazine, features a free page, Genome Gateway, with online original research papers from Nature and Nature Genetics relating to...

Five journals with free (or recently extended) online trial periods were recently announced; online content includes full text, figures, and tables. The American Physiological Society has announced free, online access to Physiological Genomics through December 31, 2001; full text and abstracts are available from 1999. The journal is published in conjunction with Stanford University's HighWire...