The Zebrafish Information Network
ZFIN
is an online

biological database Biological databases are libraries of biological sciences, collected from scientific experiments, published literature, high-throughput experiment technology, and computational analysis. They contain information from research areas including genom ...

of information about the

zebrafish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family ( Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and thus often ...

(''Danio rerio''). The zebrafish is a widely used

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

for genetic,

genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

, and

developmental Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitosi ...

studies, and ZFIN provides an integrated interface for querying and displaying the large volume of data generated by this research. To facilitate use of the zebrafish as a model of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

biology, ZFIN links these data to corresponding information about other model organisms (e.g.,

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

) and to human disease databases. Abundant links to external

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

databases (e.g.,

GenBank The GenBank sequence database is an open access, annotated collection of all publicly available nucleotide sequences and their protein translations. It is produced and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI; a part ...

) and to genome browsers are included. Gene product, gene expression, and phenotype data are annotated with terms from biomedical

ontologies In computer science and information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definition of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, and entities that substantiate one, many, or all domains ...

. ZFIN is based at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in the United States, with funding provided by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH).

ZFIN consists of two principal parts: # a website of community news and announcements, as well as biological resources such as laboratory protocols, a

gene nomenclature Gene nomenclature is the scientific naming of genes, the units of heredity in living organisms. It is also closely associated with protein nomenclature, as genes and the proteins they code for usually have similar nomenclature. An international co ...

guide, and anatomy information # a

relational database A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relatio ...

containing biological data that are curated from the scientific literature and that are directly submitted by zebrafish research laboratories (e.g., Thisse high-throughput gene expression analysis). Information in ZFIN is tightly linked to the web resources of the Zebrafish International Resource Center
ZIRC
, the

China Zebrafish Resource Center The China Zebrafish Resource Center (CZRC) is a non-profit organization located in 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, Focusing mainly on zebrafish resources. It was established in the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in October 201 ...

CZRC
, and so on, which maintain and provide zebrafish-related research resources, materials and services. ZFIN's relational database interface provides query forms and display pages for the following biological data types: *Genes, markers, and clones *Gene expression *Antibodies *Sequence alignments (

BLAST Blast or The Blast may refer to: * Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner *Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front Film * ''Blast'' (1997 film) ...

) *Mutants and transgenic lines *Anatomy *Genetic maps ZFIN also maintains a database of zebrafish-related publications, laboratories, people, and companies. In addition to its specialized search interfaces, ZFIN provides a

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

-like global site search. ZFIN's community

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

gives zebrafish researchers the ability to share information about laboratory protocols and antibodies.

Notes and references

External links

ZFIN
The Zebrafish Model Organism Database

FishMap : The Zebrafish Community Genomics Browser
maintained at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology
Zebrafish GenomeWiki Beta Preview
maintained at the

Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was founded i ...

Contents

Notes and references

External links

See also