Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a continuously updated catalog of
human genes and
genetic disorder
A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosome abnormality. Although polygenic disorders ...
s and
traits, with a particular focus on the
gene-phenotype relationship. , approximately 9,000 of the over 25,000 entries in OMIM represented
phenotype
In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...
s; the rest represented
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
s, many of which were related to known phenotypes.
Versions and history
OMIM is the online continuation of
Victor A. McKusick's ''Mendelian Inheritance in Man'' (MIM), which was published in 12 editions between 1966 and 1998.
[McKusick, V. A. ''Mendelian Inheritance in Man. Catalogs of Autosomal Dominant, Autosomal Recessive and X-Linked Phenotypes.'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1st ed, 1996; 2nd ed, 1969; 3rd ed, 1971; 4th ed, 1975; 5th ed, 1978; 6th ed, 1983; 7th ed, 1986; 8th ed, 1988; 9th ed, 1990; 10th ed, 1992.] Nearly all of the 1,486 entries in the first edition of MIM discussed phenotypes.
MIM/OMIM is produced and curated at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (JHUSOM). OMIM became available on the internet in 1987 under the direction of the
Welch Medical Library at JHUSOM with financial support from the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 1995 to 2010, OMIM was available on the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...
with
informatics
Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...
and financial support from the
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is lo ...
. The current OMIM website
OMIM.org, which was developed with funding from JHUSOM, is maintained by
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
with financial support from the
National Human Genome Research Institute
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) is an institute of the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
NHGRI began as the Office of Human Genome Research in The Office of the Director in 1988. This Office transi ...
.
Collection process and use
The content of MIM/OMIM is based on selection and review of the published
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
biomedical literature. Updating of content is performed by a team of science writers and curators under the direction of
Ada Hamosh at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine of Johns Hopkins University. While OMIM is freely available to the public, it is designed for use primarily by physicians and other health care professionals concerned with genetic disorders, by genetics researchers, and by advanced students in science and medicine.
The database may be used as a resource for locating literature relevant to inherited conditions, and its
numbering system is widely used in the medical literature to provide a unified index for genetic diseases.
OMIM classification system
OMIM numbers
Each OMIM entry is given a unique six-digit identifier
as summarized below:
* 100000–299999: Autosomal
loci or phenotypes (entries created before May 15, 1994)
* 300000–399999:
X-linked loci or phenotypes
* 400000–499999:
Y-linked loci or phenotypes
* 500000–599999:
Mitochondrial loci or phenotypes
* 600000 and above:
Autosomal
An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosome ...
loci or phenotypes (entries created after May 15, 1994)
In cases of
allelic heterogeneity, the MIM number of the entry is followed by a decimal point and a unique 4-digit number specifying the variant.
For example, allelic variants in the
HBB gene (141900) are numbered 141900.0001 through 141900.0538.
Because OMIM has responsibility for the classification and naming of genetic disorders, these numbers are stable identifiers of the disorders.
Symbols preceding MIM numbers
Symbols preceding MIM numbers
indicate the entry category:
* An asterisk (*) before an entry number indicates a gene.
* A number symbol (#) before an entry number indicates that it is a descriptive entry, usually of a phenotype, and does not represent a unique locus. The reason for the use of the number symbol is given in the first paragraph of the entry. Discussion of any gene(s) related to the phenotype resides in another entry (or entries) as described in the first paragraph.
* A plus sign (+) before an entry number indicates that the entry contains the description of a gene of known sequence and a phenotype.
* A percent sign (%) before an entry number indicates that the entry describes a confirmed Mendelian phenotype or phenotypic locus for which the underlying molecular basis is not known.
* No symbol before an entry number generally indicates a description of a phenotype for which the Mendelian basis, although suspected, has not been clearly established or that the separateness of this phenotype from that in another entry is unclear.
* A
caret (^) before an entry number means the entry no longer exists because it was removed from the database or moved to another entry as indicated.
See also
*
Mendelian inheritance
Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...
*
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals
*
Medical classification
A medical classification is used to transform descriptions of medical diagnoses or procedures into standardized statistical code in a process known as clinical coding. Diagnosis classifications list diagnosis codes, which are used to track dise ...
*
Comparative Toxicogenomics Database, a database that integrates chemicals and genes with human diseases, including OMIM data.
*
DECIPHER, a database of chromosomal imbalance and associated phenotype in humans, using
Ensembl resources.
*
MARRVEL, a website that uses OMIM as one of the six human genetic databases and seven model organism databases to integrate information.
References
External links
{{Wikidata property, P492
OMIM home page
Genetics databases
Diagnosis codes
Medical search engines
Medical databases