About GermOnline
GermOnline 4.0 is a cross-species database gateway focusing on high-throughput expression data relevant for germline development, the meiotic cell cycle and mitosis in healthy versus malignant cells. The portal provides access to the Saccharomyces Genomics Viewer (SGV) which facilitates online interpretation of complex data from experiments with high-density oligonucleotide tiling microarrays that cover the entire yeast genome. The database is accessible without restrictions at http://www.germonline.org.
Entry points
You can search GermOnline for individual genes or lists of genes that were identified in functional genomics studies.
- Single gene query: to find a single gene, first identify the species in the welcome page popup menu, type a gene symbol (Spo11), a database ID (MGI:1349669) or the Ensembl ID (ENSMUSG00000005883) into the text field and press the Go! button.
- Retrieve gene lists: use the advanced search interface based on Biomart to retrieve lists of genes. Select a species (Mus musculus or Saccharomyces cerevisiae), press the QUERY FORM button, choose the GermOnline database and a mouse (Mmusculus) or yeast (Scerevisiae) dataset. Then apply Filters, select Attributes and press the Results button to identify gene lists of interest. Define the format of the export file and save. It is highly recommended to read the relevant publications before gene lists are retrieved.
- View tiling array data: use the Saccharomyces Genomics Viewer to access heatmaps that summarize multi-sample expression data across different experiments. Define the query type (e.g. coding transcript) and type a gene name (e.g. Ndt80) to call up heatmaps that show multi-sample expression data across different experiments.
Browsing the database
To explore the database follow the link browse database which will lead you to all available query interfaces and species-specific search masks that enable to you consult the database using chromosome numbers or base pair coordinates. The gene identifier link within the section Orthologue prediction of a gene report page enables you to quickly access data available for an ortholog in another species represented in the database.
Need more help?
If you need more detailed information on how to access microarray expression data and retrieve gene lists please consult the Userguide which is available for downloading via the welcome page. Within the report pages you will also find an explanation of the array data display via the Help on this display link.