Welcome to 4DXpress
Medaka enhancer assay, Ettwiller L.
 
zebrafish, ZFIN
 
drosophila, BDGP
twist (CG2956 - FBgn0003900)
stage9-10
 
zebrafish, ZFIN
 
drosophila, BDGP
Gasp (CG13333 - FBgn0033855)
stage13-16
 
mouse, Spitz F.
Hoxd11 (ENSMUSG00000042499 - MGI:96203)

This database provides a platform to query and compare gene expression data during the development of the major model animals (zebrafish, drosophila, medaka, mouse). The high resolution expression data was acquired through whole mount in situ hybridsation-, antibody- or transgenic experiments.

Data was integrated from several species specific expression pattern databases, such as ZFIN, BDGP, GXD, MEPD as well as directly submitted by researchers of the participating groups at EMBL.

The name 4DXpress stands for expression database in 4D. The 4D (four dimensions) of 4DXpress can be interpreted either as: 3 spatial dimensions plus time, or as

1. species    2. gene    3. developmental stage    4. anatomical structure

The major focus of this database lies in cross species comparison. To be able to compare gene expression patterns between different species, relationships are needed between:

genes orthology mapping The orthology mapping is taken from the Ensembl compara database.
developmental stages stage mapping We have mapped species specific developmenatal stages to a list of stages, which is common to all bilaterian animals: zygote, blastula, gastrula, neurula, segmentation-organogenesis, juvenile, adult.
anatomical structures anatomy mapping The mapping of anatomical terms is an ambitious task, which has only been started. We will use lexical, ontology-structure and expression information to reveal relationships between the different species.

Yannick Haudry, Thorsten Henrich