However, in many ways, the success of these endeavors hinges heavily upon accurate and timely access to such data. But it is difficult to gain access to intended data using the interfaces provided by individual databases. The rigid link and form based query interfaces make it extremely difficult to formulate queries that do not fit the interface format. Thus, query formats that were not anticipated ahead by the designers of these databases become almost impossible to pose. It is our contention that for effective use of genetic databases, ad hoc queries must be supported so that researchers are not confined into using only available query forms of the interfaces.
Current databases lack the capability of bulk or set based querying capabilities.
This is partly due to the text based representation of the genomic data. Unfortunately, without bulk querying capabilities, much of the potential of genomic research will remain largely unexplored simply because it will not be possible to pose numerous interesting queries due to the associated complexities of manual information extraction. Another critical shortcoming of the current genomic databases is that they are not interoperable. This feature limits, for instance, the ability to compare or derive conclusions from biological processes and functions common to multiple organisms stored in various databases. The interface will integrate several such databases and give the illusion of a universal database to users.