Abstract

Chromosomal rearrangement (CR) events result from abnormal breaking and rejoining of the DNA molecules, or from crossing-over between repetitive DNA sequences, and they are involved in many tumor and non-tumor diseases. Investigations of disease-associated CR events can not only lead to important discoveries about DNA breakage and repair mechanisms, but also offer important clues about the pathologic causes and the diagnostic/therapeutic targets of these diseases. We have developed a database of Chromosomal Rearrangements In Diseases (dbCRID, http://dbCRID.biolead.org), a comprehensive database of human CR events and their associated diseases. For each reported CR event, dbCRID documents the type of the event, the disease or symptoms associated, and--when possible--detailed information about the CR event including precise breakpoint positions, junction sequences, genes and gene regions disrupted and experimental techniques applied to discover/analyze the CR event. With 2643 records of disease-associated CR events curated from 1172 original studies, dbCRID is a comprehensive and dynamic resource useful for studying DNA breakage and repair mechanisms, and for analyzing the genetic basis of human tumor and non-tumor diseases.