ABSTRACT
Germline gene transfer into the pronuclei of fertilized ova via microinjection has resulted in the generation and use of numerous transgenic animals as powerful probes into complex biological systems. Major schematic modifications were sequentially designed in order to direct the evolution of TBASE towards a relationalized schema. Over 800 new entries were added by one person to the database during the schema revision process. Due to the wide use of homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells, and expressed community request, TBASE initially focused on maintaining comprehensive coverage of all targeted mutations reported to date. Indeed, the very success of these genetic manipulations has raised important issues pertaining to the access and availability of popular knockout and transgenic animals. As the central repository of data generated by transgenesis and gene targeting, TBASE must also allow the data acquisition strategies to reflect advances in technological and investigational approaches.
