A neurological disorder is a disorder caused by the deterioration of certain nerve cells called neurons. Changes in these cells cause them to function abnormally, eventually bringing about their death. In this paper we present a comprehensive database for neurodegenerative diseases, a first-of-its kind covering all known or suspected genes, proteins, pathways related to neurodegenerative diseases. This dynamically compiled database allows researchers to link neurological disorders to the candidate genes & proteins. It serves as a tool to navigate potential gene-protein-pathway relationships in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. The neurodegenerative disorder database covers more then 100 disease concepts including synonyms and research topics. The current version of the database provides links to 728 abstracts and over 203 unique genes/proteins with 137 drugs. Also it is integrated well with other related databases. The aim of this database is to provide the researcher with a quick overview of potential links between genes and proteins with related neurodegenerative diseases. Thus DND providing a user-friendly interface is designed as a source to enhance research on neurodegenerative disorders.

http://www.bioinfosastra.com/services/dnd/dnd.html.

Database of Neurodegenerative Disorders (DND) is developed as an open source software system using Mysql - 5.0.18 - Win32 [6] and PHP - 5.2.0. [7] DND uses the relational data model. A schema diagram describing the DND is shown in the [figure 1]. MySQL tables are shown as rectangles. Mandatory attributes are in bold, optional are in italics. The relationships between tables in the database are shown as connecting lines. The public databases NCBI, SwissProt, Kegg and DrugBank are used for populating the database. The gene sequences related to various neurological disorders are obtained from NCBI. Both gene sequence and coding sequence can be obtained in Fasta format. Also HGNC links for each entry is provided. All protein sequences are extracted from UniProt, and fields that mapped to PDB, Pfam, Interpro, Prints and Smart are parsed and stored. Links from DND to these source databases are also provided for each entry. Fasta format of protein sequences too can be obtained. Pathway information for Neurodegenerative diseases as well as known neuro related drug compounds in KEGG is searched and the results obtained are incorporated in to the database. The articles are chosen to represent a diverse selection of reports on major Neurodegenerative diseases and corresponding Pubmed ID is provided for all the entries. Neurological Associations and Organizations interested in neuroscience-related fields are tabulated with links to their corresponding web pages.

There are three ways by which the user can query the database. The first one is the keyword search in home page that can be performed by giving keywords like Disease name, Gene name and Drug name to retrieve the required data. The second one is the advanced search option for specific requirements with two main entry points namely gene/protein and drug/drug properties. Gene/protein include search options like Gene name, Gene id, Omim, Hgnc, Pubmed, Swissprot id, Pdb, Interpro, Pfam, Smart and Prints. The second entry point Drug/drug properties include Drug name, Kegg id, DrugBank id, Pubchem, and IUPAC name and Molecular formula. Alternatively, the users can also browse the database via the seven entry points namely browse by Diseases, Genes, Proteins, Drugs, Pathways, Related Articles and Organizations.