i'm using a flat file database ('filename'.dat.txt). and the database look something like this.

ID  AE5372;
AC  7889099;
DE  Human DNA;
SQ  ACGTTTAGG....GTTA;

now, i'm going tru the DBI and DBD:CVS module (thanx to u). i think this can help.(although a little blur of where to get started..).i'll get back to you if i have any further question..of course i will since i have to implement a distributed database in a cluster..still a long way to go. by the way..how bout DBD::RAM module?which one is better.?(compared with DBD::CVS).that's all for now.again...thanks for your help.