Design of the virtually integrated database management system and the X.500 directory service for the Human Genome Project

The data generated from the 15-year U.S. Human Genome Project (HGP) are currently stored and maintained in highly decentralized genome databases worldwide. There is no single standard for implementing the genome databases and no centralized access to them. That creates difficulty for users to locate the relevant genome data among those databases. To facilitate the searching and accessing of the relevant genome databases the paper proposes a model of a virtually integrated database system for the HGP. The proposed database system, based on the X.500 directory service and the client/server model, will provide central access to the decentralized databases through a single access protocol. The design of the directory information base (DIB) for the HGP and the functions and basic design of the client/server programs are discussed in detail