Tips for searching HIstome

HIstome can be searched in two ways. One is a custom search using Google in which any page occuring on the HIstome site will be returned as ranked by Google for given search term. While this will suffice for exploratory searches, a more directed search may be desirable at times.

In the advanced search, a user can specify the table to be searched and keywords for the search. The keyword can be modified with a wildcard using the * operator. Thus searching for H2* will include H2A and H2B along with anything else that starts with H2.

When searching the Histone and Histone variants table, the keyword is searched in protein name, gene name, gene symbol, previous symbols, aliases, gene id, location, hgnc id, unigene id, and omim id. Thus, a search for H3 returns all H3 variants, while a search for H2 returns an empty list as H2 is listed as either H2A or H2B. Adding a wildcard, H2*, returns all H2 variants.

When searching the Post Translational Modifications table, the keyword is searched in the modification type, modification code and within the notes sections. E.g, for searching for all entries related to lysine dimethylations, one could enter H*K*me2, or for all modifications on H2A, one could search for H2A*. This will also bring up any entries that have the keyword in the notes section that provides more information for a particular modification.

When searching the Histone modifying enzymes table, the keyword is searched in protein name, gene name, gene symbol, previous symbols, aliases, gene id, location, hgnc id, unigene id, and omim id. Thus, a search for *acetyltransferase* returns all acetyltransferases, or a search for *lysine acetyltransferase* returns all lysine acetyltransferases.

When searching the Diseases table, there is an additional filter for retrieving either Histones and histone variants, or post translational modifications, or enzymes, or all entries related to a disease. If one is interested in all Histones related to Breast cancer, one could select Histone and Histone variants and enter Breast Cancer in the text box. Wildcards can again be used to make the search more general. Thus, a search for Neuro* will give all entries where anything is related to neurological disorders.