•http://www.immunegene.org

With the complete human-genome sequence now available and large numbers of researchers using DNA-microarray analysis to study the immune system, databases that allow investigators to identify genes that are of sufficient interest to study in more detail are crucial research tools.

The Immunogenetic Related Information Source (IRIS) is an online database run by researchers in Professor John Trowsdale's laboratory at the University of Cambridge. It includes more than 1,500 human genes, ∼7% of the human genome, all of which are known to produce a functional transcript that encodes a protein shown to have at least one immune characteristic. In this context, an immune characteristic is defined as the following: a known or putative function in innate or adaptive immunity, participation in the development or maturation of the immune system, induction by an immunomodulator, participation in a signalling pathway that results in the induction of genes involved in host defence, direct interaction with a pathogen or pathogen-derived molecule, or expression mainly in immune tissues.

For each gene, information is provided about its chromosomal location and its nucleotide and protein sequence, as well its proposed immune function. The web site allows users to search for an individual gene by its official HUGO (Human Gene Organisation) gene name or to search for genes at a particular chromosomal location or with a specific proposed function. This organization of human immune-function genes should be of particular interest to researchers studying the genetics of the immune response and immune-related diseases.