RESUMO
As the scientific literature grows, leading to an increasing volume of published experimental data, so does the need to access and analyze this data using computational tools. The most commonly used method to convert published experimental data on gene function into controlled vocabulary annotations relies on a professional curator, employed by a model organism database or a more general resource such as UniProt, to read published articles and compose annotation statements based on the articles' contents. A more cost-effective and scalable approach capable of capturing gene function data across the whole range of biological research organisms in computable form is urgently needed. We have analyzed a set of ontology annotations generated through collaborations between the Arabidopsis Information Resource and several plant science journals. Analysis of the submissions entered using the online submission tool shows that most community annotations were well supported and the ontology terms chosen were at an appropriate level of specificity. Of the 503 individual annotations that were submitted, 97% were approved and community submissions captured 72% of all possible annotations. This new method for capturing experimental results in a computable form provides a cost-effective way to greatly increase the available body of annotations without sacrificing annotation quality. Database URL: www.arabidopsis.org.
Assuntos
Bases de Dados Factuais , Internet , Anotação de Sequência Molecular/métodos , Publicações Periódicas como Assunto , Vocabulário Controlado , Indexação e Redação de Resumos , Arabidopsis , Biologia Computacional/métodos , Modelos Teóricos , Interface Usuário-ComputadorRESUMO
The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR, http://arabidopsis.org) is a genome database for Arabidopsis thaliana, an important reference organism for many fundamental aspects of biology as well as basic and applied plant biology research. TAIR serves as a central access point for Arabidopsis data, annotates gene function and expression patterns using controlled vocabulary terms, and maintains and updates the A. thaliana genome assembly and annotation. TAIR also provides researchers with an extensive set of visualization and analysis tools. Recent developments include several new genome releases (TAIR8, TAIR9 and TAIR10) in which the A. thaliana assembly was updated, pseudogenes and transposon genes were re-annotated, and new data from proteomics and next generation transcriptome sequencing were incorporated into gene models and splice variants. Other highlights include progress on functional annotation of the genome and the release of several new tools including Textpresso for Arabidopsis which provides the capability to carry out full text searches on a large body of research literature.
Assuntos
Arabidopsis/genética , Bases de Dados Genéticas , Genes de Plantas , Anotação de Sequência Molecular , Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Genoma de Planta , SoftwareRESUMO
The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR, http://arabidopsis.org) is the model organism database for the fully sequenced and intensively studied model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Data in TAIR is derived in large part from manual curation of the Arabidopsis research literature and direct submissions from the research community. New developments at TAIR include the addition of the GBrowse genome viewer to the TAIR site, a redesigned home page, navigation structure and portal pages to make the site more intuitive and easier to use, the launch of several TAIR web services and a new genome annotation release (TAIR7) in April 2007. A combination of manual and computational methods were used to generate this release, which contains 27,029 protein-coding genes, 3889 pseudogenes or transposable elements and 1123 ncRNAs (32,041 genes in all, 37,019 gene models). A total of 681 new genes and 1002 new splice variants were added. Overall, 10,098 loci (one-third of all loci from the previous TAIR6 release) were updated for the TAIR7 release.