IMGT, the International ImMunoGeneTics Information System

INTRODUCTION

IMGT, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system (http://www.imgt.org), created in 1989 by the Laboratoire d’ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire LIGM (Université Montpellier 2 and CNRS, Montpellier, France), is the global reference in immunogenetics and immunoinformatics. IMGT-ONTOLOGY concepts, generated from the Formal IMGT-ONTOLOGY or IMGT-Kaleidoscope axioms, have allowed us to set up the IMGT Scientific chart rules and to standardize and manage the complexity of immunogenetics data. IMGT is a high-quality integrated knowledge resource specializing in the immunoglobulins (IG) or antibodies, T cell receptors (TR), and major histocompatibility (MH) of human and other vertebrate species, proteins of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) and MH superfamily (MhSF), related proteins of the immune systems (RPI) of vertebrates and invertebrates, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb), and fusion proteins for immune applications (FPIA). IMGT provides a common access to standardized data from genome, proteome, genetics, and three-dimensional (3D) structures. IMGT consists of databases, interactive online tools, and Web resources.