IMGT

Now available through our SRS search engine is the Immunogenetics database IMGT/LIGM, and integrated specialised database containing information on genes relevant to the function of the immune system.

Following is part of the release notes for the version installed at EMBnet/CNB. On them you can find more details about this database.

Version

IMGT/LIGM Release 98.07, July 1998
Professor Marie-Paule LEFRANC

Laboratoire d'ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire, LIGM UMR CNRS 9942, Institut de Génétique Moléculaire BP 5051, 1919 route de Mende, 34033 MONTPELLIER Cedex 1

FRANCE

Telephone: +33 (0)4 99 61 99 65
FAX : +33 (0)4 99 61 99 01
e-mail : lefranc@ligm.igh.cnrs.fr

IMGT is funded by the European Economic Community's Biomed1 program and the Groupement de Recherches et d'Etudes sur les Génomes

Introduction

The ImMunoGeneTics database, IMGT, is an integrated specialised database containing nucleotide sequence information of genes important in the function of the immune system. It collects and annotates sequences belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which are involved in immune recognition, these are the B cell antigen receptor (Immunoglobulin or Ig), the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) (LIGM-database) and the class I and class II molecules of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), in humans the later are referred to as the Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA) system (HLA-database). Collection and analysis of such sequences are important for the understanding of disorders of the immune system such as infectious diseases, autoimmunity, allergy or tumor development, and the development of antibody engineering and therapeutical approaches such as immunotherapy.

IMGT works in close collaboration with the EMBL and the EMBL database maintained by the outstation EBI (European Bioinformatics institute)and uses sequence information from the EMBL database for expert annotation. As the EMBL database is a generalist database it collects sequences of all types from all species, there are insufficient resources for specialised information to be added. In IMGT however such information is added in a consistent and standardised way by expert annotators. This annotation procedure includes verification of the sequence data by homology studies using multiple sequence alignment tools, and also labeling of the sequence, which cannot be carried out at the generalist databanks. By updating the information held at the generalist databases from the specialist databases the quality of the information will improve. Integration of genetics and mapping data with a friendly graphical user interface will make IMGT an invaluable integrated database for both fundamental, pharmaceutical and clinical research.

The IMGT/LIGM-DB international nomenclature committee was established in 1994: committee comprising:

• Marie-Paule Lefranc (France)
• Leroy Hood (USA)
• Roy Riblet (USA)
• Tasuku Honjo (Japan)
• Werner Müller (Germany)
• Ian Tomlinson (UK)

The main objectives of IMGT/LIGM are:

• to provide immunologists with an integrated tool that will allow them to manage and analyse the complex information of interest to them
• to provide a consistent view of data presently available concerning Ig and TCR
• to propose a basis to enable international discussion for standardisation of data in this field
• to provide mapping and genetics data useful in search of candidate genes in diseases

RELEASE 98.07

The IMGT/LIGM Database containes sequence information for 63 species.

A breakdown of Release 98.07 (fully annotated section) is shown below: