To prepare for the flood of new alleles being generated by large-scale mutagenesis screens, and by the mouse community more generally, the Mouse Genome Database (MGD) is restructuring its existing mutant allele data and is incorporating new controlled phenotype vocabularies. The goal is to improve user search tools to allow phenotypic data to be found, analysed and compared at many levels of resolution — from sequence changes to organismal traits.

To do this, MGD is extracting certain types of information (such as a mutant's strain of origin) from existing, unstructured data in MGD and is organizing it into separate, searchable fields. Another aspect of this effort is a new Allele and New Mutant Submission Form, which allows researchers to submit information about a known allele or new mutant, such as how it was generated, its mode of inheritance, its molecular basis and its phenotype on different strain backgrounds. Each allele receives an MGD accession number that provides it with a unique identifier within the database.

MGD is also working with many of the new mutagenesis centres to obtain mutant information through direct data downloads. The aim is to provide an information resource on new phenotypes and alleles and, through links to the mutagenesis centres themselves, to provide access to detailed phenotypic data on individual mice and to information on how mouse strains can be obtained. Original data contributions and updates from the community will also be key to MGD's ability to develop new and more flexible search tools.