چکیده (انگلیسی):

Understanding the pathogenesis of disease is instrumental in delineating its progression mechanisms and for
envisioning ways to counteract it. In the process, animal models represent invaluable tools for identifying
disease-related loci and their genetic components. Amongst them, the laboratory rat is used extensively in the
study of many conditions and disorders. The Rat Genome Database (RGD—http://rgd.mcw.edu) has been
established to house rat genetic, genomic and phenotypic data. Since its inception, it has continually expanded
the depth and breadth of its content. Currently, in addition to rat genes, QTLs and strains, RGD houses mouse
and human genes and QTLs and offers pertinent associated data, acquired through manual literature curation
and imported via pipelines. A collection of controlled vocabularies and ontologies is employed for the standardized
extraction and provision of biological data. The vocabularies/ontologies allow the capture of disease and
phenotype associations of rat strains and QTLs, as well as disease and pathway associations of rat, human and
mouse genes. A suite of tools enables the retrieval, manipulation, viewing and analysis of data. Genes associated
with particular conditions or with altered networks underlying disease pathways can be retrieved. Genetic variants
in humans or in sequenced rat strains can be searched and compared. Lists of rat strains and species-specific
genes and QTLs can be generated for selected ontology terms and then analyzed, downloaded or sent to other
tools. From many entry points, data can be accessed and results retrieved. To illustrate, diabetes is used as a
case study to initiate and embark upon an exploratory journey.