There is a need to easily publish data in a way that is immediately accessible to the scientific community who have access to the Internet. We have developed a simple database search engine dbEngine which is being used to quickly create a searchable database on a World Wide Web (WWW) server. Data can be prepared from spreadsheet programs (Excel, etc.) or from tables exported from relational database systems. This Common Gateway Interface (CGI-BIN) program is used with a WWW server such as available commercially, or from NCSA or CERN. Its capabilities include: 1) searching records by combinations of terms connected with ANDs or ORs; 2) returning search results as hypertext links to other WWW database servers; 3) mapping lists of literature reference identifiers to the full references; 4) creating bidirectional hypertext links between pictures and the database. DbEngine has been used to support the MitoDat database (Mendelian and non-Mendelian Inheritance associated with the Mitochondrion) on the WWW. Lemkin PF et al., Electrophoresis 1996;17(2):556-72. The URL is http://www-lmmb.ncifcrf.gov/mitoDat/. The locations of mitochondrial genome coded proteins may be visualized by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis maps. Interactive chromosome idiograms let the user access specific MitoDat database entries directly. This database consolidates information from the various biological databases, eg.approximately GenBank, SwissProt, Genome Data Base (GDB), Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Mouse Genome Database, Protein Disease Database (PDD). Some of the concepts used in dbEngine are similar to those used in the PDD. Because the mitochondrion has a central role in cellular metabolism, it is involved in many human diseases, so the MitoDat database should help us in studying these diseases. Dr. Zullo periodically updates the database.
