| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>National and ethnic mutation databases (NEMDBs) are emerging online repositories, recording extensive information about the described genetic heterogeneity of an ethnic group or population. These resources facilitate the provision of genetic services and provide a comprehensive list of genomic variations among different populations. As such, they enhance awareness of the various genetic disorders. Here, we describe the features of the <it>ETHNOS </it>software, a simple but versatile tool based on a flat-file database that is specifically designed for the development and curation of NEMDBs. <it>ETHNOS </it>is a freely available software which runs more than half of the NEMDBs currently available. Given the emerging need for NEMDB in genetic testing services and the fact that <it>ETHNOS </it>is the only off-the-shelf software available for NEMDB development and curation, its adoption in subsequent NEMDB development would contribute towards data content uniformity, unlike the diverse contents and quality of the available gene (locus)-specific databases. Finally, we allude to the potential applications of NEMDBs, not only as worldwide central allele frequency repositories, but also, and most importantly, as data warehouses of individual-level genomic data, hence allowing for a comprehensive ethnicity-specific documentation of genomic variation.</p>
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