ETHNOS: A versatile electronic tool for the development and curation of national genetic databases GENOME DATABASES Figure 2. Basic features of the ETHNOS software for national and ethnic mutation database (NEMDB) development and curation. The format and structure of ﬂat ﬁles with multiple lines per record is shown, with the ‘summaries’ (A) and ‘search’ ﬁles (B) used as examples (see text for details). (C) Structure of the ﬂat ﬁle with one line per record, used for entering the mutation frequencies. This ﬁle consists of the data source ﬁle used in the example of Figure 1B. (D) Part of the database administration menu. The administrator is recognised by the PHP script on the basis of his/her IP address. By clicking on the ‘admin’ box (in the red oval), an additional screen appears at the top of each page. Again, the selected option is highlighted (disorders page for the example shown in Figure 1C), and the administrator can easily modify its contents using simple html language (see text for details). (b) identify the ﬁelds, and is displayed as the header of the list of disease summaries. From the third line onwards, each line represents a HTML ﬁle, the ﬁlename of which is built using the ﬁrst two sections separated by the pipe ‘j’ char- acter. Both the index ﬁle and the individual HTML ﬁles can be edited online. The index ﬁle is edited using the basic custom-made CMS editor (see below) and the HTML ﬁles are edited using a third party (wysiwyg) editor. The allele frequency search option can be conducted in a non-restricted or secure password-protected environment. This option employs the single ﬂat-ﬁle database technique. The text ﬁle is tab delimited and includes information on, for example, population, ethnic group, gene, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) identiﬁcation (ID), mutation, number (No.) of chromo- somes/families, allele and carrier frequency ( per cent), every time depending on the NEMDB in question (Figure 2B). Allele fre- quency data derived from one single study (the most representative), and not multiple (c) studies, is mentioned in the respective disease summary. The ﬁelds ‘No. of chromosomes/ families’ and ‘allele and carrier frequency ( per cent)’ allow numerical values only with a period as a decimal point (not a comma) while the ‘OMIM ID’ ﬁeld allows a URL address to be entered. The two search options allow ﬁltering for a certain ethnic group and disorder, using drop-down menus and limiting the output to a frequency range. All data are manually entered by the curators (Figure 2C). It is estimated that, with a maximum of 3,000 records, the search options will still work relatively fast. The genetic laboratories. As with the disease summaries option, the indexed multiple ﬂat- ﬁle database technique is also employed here, although in this case the ﬁles have a different format. Features of the CMS All pages, including the menu, may be edited online. The online editor is password and/or # HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1479–7364. HUMAN GENOMICS. VOL 4. NO 5. 361–368 JUNE 2010 363