MIA Key-Resource Diagram (Clickable ImageMap):

The diagram below depicts the key-resource model MIA relies upon to find information about a macromolecule on the web.  Here, a resource (shown as a rectangle below) is an Internet-based service that provides an interface to a searchable data repository or analysis tool.  Examples include sequence databases, BLAST servers, structure validation programs, etc.  A key  (shown as an oval below) may be thought of as a short text string which is used to query a resource.  Each resource usually will accept only one type of key.  Some examples of keys are four-letter PDB IDs such as 1ATP, 1FSC, etc. and Swiss-Prot Entry names such as KAPA_MOUSE, TXF7_DENAN, etc.

An arrow leading from a key (oval) to a resource (rectangle) signifies that the key may be used to form a query to the resource.  Conversely, an arrow leading from a resource (rectangle) to a key (oval) indicates that the resource may contain cross-references to other resources which themselves are accessed via the key.  An MIA search begins with a key supplied by the user and traverses the key-resource graph by querying resources and from them extracting new keys until no more can be found.  The result displayed to the user is simply an organized list of all resources that were sucessfully queried.  

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