In the postgenomic era much attention goes to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These small changes of 1 or more nucleotides in the DNA sequence distinguish individuals within a population. Some of these SNPs have been directly linked to differences in suseptibility to disease, in the age of onset and severity of illness, and in the way our bodies respond to drug treatment. However, the number of SNPs is too large too synthetise each variant and analyse the effect on biological function of the related gene or protein experimentally. To be able to predict the consequences of these SNPs bioinformatics tools can be used. The SNPeffect project aims to assemble relevant biological information on - mainly coding nonsynonymous - human SNPs in one central database. Properties that can be examined in this aspect are among others differences in protein folding, aggregation, stability, interaction energy changes and changes in free energy upon mutation.

SNPeffect 4.0 is now online.