One key aspect of genetics research is associating variations in gene sequences with heritable phenotypes. To that end, the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) has released the database of human genetic variation (dbSNP), containing "both the experimental conditions used to find each mutation and each mutation's observed variation for populations and individuals."

The Center for Molecular Medicine at Emory University maintains this human mitochondrial genome database, which offers information on Mitochondrial DNA Function Locations and Polypeptide Assignments as well as the relevant publication references. The database is initially searchable by gene, disease, and enzyme. Users can then refine their search by function, polymorphisms, or references (author,...

The National Center for Biotechnology Information of the National Library of Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health) has just posted a new gene of the Human Genome (first described in the October 25, 1996 Scout Report), showing the positions, associated data and annotations for more than 30,000 human gene-based markers. Produced "by a collaboration of 63 scientists from government,...

Genome Biology "serves the biological research community as an international forum, both in print and on the Web, for the dissemination, discussion and critical review of information about all areas of biology informed by genomic research." While a paid subscription is required to access all features on the Genome Biology Web site, non-subscribers will find a number of open-access resources as...

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...