Fig. 1

Curation of animal models in AutDB. a AutDB features a modular framework that aims at collating the multifactorial risk architecture associated with ASD: (1) Human Gene module curates all known human genes linked to ASD together with the detailed description of variants associated with the disorder; (2) copy number variant (CNV) module catalogs deletions and duplications of chromosomal loci implicated in ASD; (3) protein interactions (PIN) module builds networks of interacting proteins implicated in the etiology of ASD; and (4) Animal Model (AM) module collects behavioral, anatomical, and physiological data corresponding to genetic and induced models of ASD. A multilevel data-integration strategy is used to connect animal models to the corresponding entries in the Human Gene and CNV modules, respectively. Inclusion of models originating from relevant non-genetic risk factors and potential quantitative trait loci expands the repertoire of ASD models. Uniquely, AM includes rescue lines based on ASD models which have been treated with an agent to alleviate ASD-related symptoms. b The number of phenoterms in the Phenobase by category (phenocategory). The categories are qualified as “core” and “auxiliary”, depending on the extent of relation (accepted by the animal model research community) of the phenotypes (phenoterms) to core or auxiliary endophenotypes observed in human ASD, whereas “physiological” and “other” refer to categories that are assessed in rodents frequently but has no definitive parallels to human ASD