Login Page

For accessing the complete set of Drug2Gene features the user should be logged in. The login option can be accessed from the upper right corner of each Drug2Gene page.

NB: New user accounts are created only by the Drug2Gene administrators.

Search Page

The Search Page consists of three main sections:

*       Main Search

*       Alternative Search

*       Statistics

Main Search

The Main Search provides an easy way for searching in Drug2Gene database suitable for all users irrespective of their experience level.

The main options are:

*       Select database field - select a search index (for more information please see below)

*   Operators drop down list – select an operator connecting the database field and the query (depends on the selected index). Available values: “=”, “=(fulltext)”, “=(strict)”, “!=”, “!=(fulltext)”, “!=(strict)”, “>”, “>=”, “<” and “<=”

*       Enter search term – type the query to be searched

*       BOOLEAN operator drop down – The available values are: AND, OR and AND NOT. The meaning of the operators is as follows:

*       <Query1> AND <Query2> - returns all the records that match both queries

*       <Query1> OR <Query2> - returns all the records that match either of the two queries

*       <Query1>AND NOT <Query2> - returns all records that match query1 and do not match query2

*       Remove button – removes the selected search fields

*       Add Field button – provides additional search fields for more complex searches

*       Search button – starts the search process

*       Reset button – resets the Main Search fields

*   Include Flagged Entries check box – by default all entries that contain relations which are flagged as FALSE are excluded form all searches. If the user wants to add them to his/her search results the Include Flagged Entries box must be checked.

Indexes

The Indexes represent the Drug2Gene searchable categories in which the user can search for a particular keyword. For example if you want to search in all possible categories you have to choose the All Text index. If you prefer to search into a particular category you may choose it from the index drop down menu.

There are two types of indexes:

*     Fulltext – the fulltext indexes are designed to examine all the words of a query in any given category of a drug2gene entry

*     Strict – the strict indexes provide an exact match search and the results are returned only in case of exact match between the query string and the respective index category content

NB: The All Text index combines all other indexes in it and it is not stringently fulltext or stringently strict as it possesses the properties of its ingredient indexes.

The indexes’ data could be three types:

*     String – Phrases to search can be text phrases, names, etc. Wildcards can be used. The available operators are: “=” and “!=”

*     Integer – Phrases to search can only be database IDs or other type of identificators. Wildcards cannot be used. The available operators are: “=”, “!=”, “>”, “>=”, “<” and “<=”

*     Float – Phrases to search can be digits with/without decimal points. Wildcards cannot be used. The available operators are: “=”, “!=”, “>”, “>=”, “<” and “<=”

NB: Wildcards are supported ONLY at the end of the word or phrase. The wildcard symbol is ‘*’. Use the wildcard to replace one or more letters of a keyword with only one * symbol.

For some of the Indexes an auto-complete option is available: Activity Unit, Activity Source, Activity Status, Activity Type, Relation Source, Official Gene Symbol, Gene Name, Gene Synonym, Gene Symbols And Synonyms, Organism Name and Compound Name.

Alternative Search

The Alternative Search is designed for more advanced users. It provides a possibility for writing directly search queries. The correct syntax is:

*       [<IndexName>]<QueryToBeSearched>

*       <IndexName> is the name of the index to search the query in (the names are the same as in the Main Search)

*       <QueryToBeSearched> is the query string that will be used for performing the search. If it consists of more than one word it must be enclosed in quotation marks

NB: The alternative search supports wildcards (“*”) and BOOLEAN operators, too. For determination of the BOOLEAN priority the bracket symbols must be used.

Example:

[Official Gene Symbol]= (strict)"UGT*" AND ([Compound Name] =(fulltext)"Farne*" OR [Compound Name] =(fulltext)"Furose*")

Statistics

The statistics section provides brief statistical information about the count of genes (grouped by common organism name), the count of compounds and the count of genes and compounds joined in relations. Two values are displayed: the number of all genes/compounds and the number of genes/compounds joined in relation.

NB: When new records are inserted into Drug2Gene database the statistics information is updated automatically.

View Database Statistics

The database statistics page consists of two sections. The first one contains the list of all Drug2Gene sources. Brief description, release number (if available), particular release date, number of genes in relations, number of compounds in relations and unique relations are also provided.

NB: Depending on the source type some of the columns may not contain information. The gene sources contain only the Genes in Relations count, the compound sources contain only the Compounds in Relations count.

The second section provides statistics for the activity types available in Drug2Gene. Two types of counts are possible - one for the Number of Activities, and one for the Number of Relations. For more simplicity only the activity types with more than 10 000 relations are displayed. The other activity types could be shown by using the “Show all activity types” link at the bottom of the table.

Middle Result Page

The Middle Result Page appears when you have already performed a search (upon completion of the search process). You can see the database hits summarized in a table view, divided into multiple columns.

Current Query String

The Current Query String section contains the exact text and syntax of the current query. It is possible for the user to copy the query and to paste it into the Alternative Search to execute again the same search.

Sub-query Section

This section allows you to refine your search by performing a sub-query. The new keyword(s) will be searched only into the current results set returned by the previous query.

All controls and fields are the same as in the Main Search.

NB: The Include Flagged Entries option can not be changed and will be applied as in the main search query.

Statistics Section

The Statistics section contains the amount of hits found. Four count values are available:

*       Relations – the count of all returned relations

*       Genes without interactions – the count of all returned single (not joining in relation) genes

*       Compounds without interactions - the count of all returned single (not joining in relation) compounds

*       Total – the count of all entries

NB: If the search query returns more than 10 000 entries, only the first 10 000 will be displayed because of performance issues. To see the total hit count of all entries use the Calculate Total Count link.

Data Results Grid

The Data Result Grid holds the data of the entries returned by the search query. The data is organized in five default columns: Relation ID, Official Gene Symbol, Gene Organism, Compound Name and Activities. The default columns can be changed with the Select categories option (please see below for more information).

NB: Relation ID column can not be removed from the Data Results Grid

The Relation ID column contains a drop down button with three available options:

*       Relation View – opens a Relation oriented Final page for a particular entry. It is available only for entries which contain a relation

*       Gene View - opens a Gene oriented Final page for a particular entry. It is available for relation- and single gene entries

*       Compound View - opens a Compound oriented Final page for a particular entry. It is available for relation- and single compound entries

The Data Results Grid contains a special column with check boxes. Entries can be selected for export or flagging by using these check boxes.

NB: The main check box (positioned in the columns header) selects/deselects all entries at the particular page (not all entries returned by the search query)

Export

The user can export entries from Drug2Gene database in XML or TSV file format.

All available for export categories are listed in the export form. Via the check boxes in front of the categories names you can select the categories for your export.

You can choose to export the selected entries on the Middle result page or all entries returned by the query search.

NB: If your search query returned more than 10 000 entries and the “All entries” radio button is selected only the first 50 000 entries will be exported. For the guest users the limit threshold is 10 000 entries. The unlimited exports require special permission.

If you try to export more than 500 entries at once you will be redirected to a special download page. There your export request will be put at the exports queue if there are other users’ export requests entered before yours. When your export is ready a link for downloading the exported file will be displayed on the download page.

Via the “Create zip archive” option you can compress your export file using the standard zip algorithm. This will reduce the size of your export file and will decrease the download time.

Select Results Columns

The Select Results Columns form contains all possible categories which can be displayed on the Middle results page grid. The Relation ID can not be removed as it provides the opening of the Final result page.

Via the Make default option the user can change the categories which should be displayed on the Middle results page.

NB: The Make Default option is available only for logged users.

Flag Relations/Evidences

The Flag Relations/Evidences option provides a way for the user to set a status of any relation/evidence. There are two statuses: true and false.

To set a relation flag first check the entry check box (the first column from the Data Result Grid) and for evidence check the check box in the Activities column (there is a check box for each evidence). By checking more than one entry/evidence check box you can flag multiple relations/evidences simultaneously.

If a given relation is flagged as false then it won’t be included in the search results returned by the user query unless the Include flagged Entries check box is checked.

If all evidences for a given relation are flagged as false, the relation will automatically be flagged as false as well. Conversely, if at least one evidence is set to true, the entire relation will be automatically flagged as true.

NB: The Flag Relations/Evidences option is available only for logged users with the proper permissions. The relation/evidence flag comments are editable from the full history page. The user can edit only his/her own comments, the administrators can edit all comments.

Final Result Page

The Final Result Page contains data grid with detailed information for a given entry. It consists of two columns. The first one displays the name of the category field and the second column displays the actual data for a category.

There are three different types of final pages:

*       Relation oriented – displays the information about one gene, one compound and their relation data

*       Gene oriented – displays one gene information and all its related compounds with their relations data or just a single gene information (for genes not joined in relations)

*   Compound oriented - displays one compound information and all its related genes with their relations data or just a single compound information (for compounds not joined in relations)

The export and flag relation/evidences options are the same as in the Middle results Page.

Import

The Drug2Gene database provides a possibility for proprietary data import thus enabling users to enrich the database information.

The import system accepts XML, TSV and SDF/MOL flat files. The exact flat files format could be seen from the provided templates (right top corner of the Import page). The flat files should be in the right encoding for successful import. The allowed characters might be seen at http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml-20060816/#charsets.

The imported data could be deleted. If a particular import is deleted the data will be erased permanently from the Drug2Gene database.

The Drug2Gene import system allows only compounds and relations to be imported. The genes data could only be modified (for example: new gene sources or synonyms could be added).

NB: The import system accepts only flat files less than 20 MB, one primary (tsv or xml) file, and maximum 50 files for one import at a time. The import functionality is available only for logged users with appropriate permissions. The users with non administrative permissions may view only their own import history.

Users

The User Management functionality provides a way to administrate the Drug2Gene user accounts.

Each user is granted a set of permissions which authorize access to particular functionality. The possible permissions are:

*       Meta Administrator – combines all other permissions and allows the user to create new user accounts

*       Everyone – default permission which grants access to the basic functionality

*       Drug2Gene Importer/Deleter – allows the user to import/delete appropriate data into/from the Drug2Gene database

*       Drug2Gene Curator – allows the user to flag relations/evidences

*       Drug2Gene Unlimited Export – allows the user to export entries from the Drug2gene database without any limitations

*      Drug2Gene Admin – combines Importer, Curator and Unlimited Exports into one permission

NB: The created users could be edited or deleted by clicking a particular username link from the User Name column. Users with non administrative permissions could only edit their own accounts.

Link Manager

The Link Manager provides functionality for adding and editing the database sources. The “primary database source name” and the “primary database source full name” fields are mandatory.

As a particular database source may provide gene, compound and/or relation entries and there may be different links for them the “url type” column defines the database source link type. In this way for one database source multiple links could be set.

The primary database sources have just edit option and can not be deleted. For all other sources the delete option is available only if they do not have entries connected to them.

NB: The Link Manager functionality is available only for logged users with appropriate permissions.