title: AluGene: a database of Alu elements incorporated within protein-coding genes.
abstract: Alu elements are short interspersed elements (SINEs) approximately 300 nucleotides in length. More than 1 million Alus are found in the human genome. Despite their being genetically functionless, recent findings suggest that Alu elements may have a broad evolutionary impact by affecting gene structures, protein sequences, splicing motifs and expression patterns. Because of these effects, compiling a genomic database of Alu sequences that reside within protein-coding genes seemed a useful enterprise. Presently, such data are limited since the structural and positional information on genes and Alu sequences are scattered throughout incompatible and unconnected databases. AluGene (http://Alugene.tau.ac.il/) provides easy access to a complete Alu map of the human genome, as well as Alu-associated information. The Alu elements are annotated with respect to coding region and exon/intron location. This design facilitates queries on Alu sequences, locations, as well as motifs and compositional properties via a one-stop search page.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel. tali@kimura.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dagan
authors.forename: Rotem
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sorek
authors.forename: Eilon
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sharon
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ast
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Graur
mesh_terms: D020087:Alu Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics*; D015894:Genome, Human; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D022821:RNA Splice Sites / Q000235:genetics; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D022821:RNA Splice Sites