Bibliography of Group: Databases

  1. Baker, P.G., Brass, A., Bechhofer, S., Goble, C.A., Paton, N.W., and Stevens, R.. "TAMBIS--Transparent Access to Multiple Bioinformatics Information Sources." Proc Int Conf Intell Syst Mol Biol. vol. 6. 1998. pp. 25-34.
    [ .pdf ] [ .ps ] [ PubMed ] [ WebSite ]

    The TAMBIS project aims to provide transparent access to disparate biological databases and analysis tools, enabling users to utilize a wide range of resources with the minimum of effort. A prototype system has been developed that includes a knowledge base of biological terminology (the biological Concept Model), a model of the underlying data sources (the Source Model) and a 'knowledge-driven' user interface. Biological concepts are captured in the knowledge base using a description logic called GRAIL. The Concept Model provides the user with the concepts necessary to construct a wide range of multiple-source queries, and the user interface provides a flexible means of constructing and manipulating those queries. The Source Model provides a description of the underlying sources and mappings between terms used in the sources and terms in the biological Concept Model. The Concept Model and Source Model provide a level of indirection that shields the user from source details, providing a high level of source transparency. Source independent, declarative queries formed from terms in the Concept Model are transformed into a set of source dependent, executable procedures. Query formulation, translation and execution is demonstrated using a working example.

    Keywords: Artificial Intelligence ; *Computational Biology ; Databases Factual ; User-Computer Interface


  2. Baker, P.G., Goble, C.A., Bechhofer, S., Paton, N.W., Stevens, R., and Brass, A.. "An ontology for bioinformatics applications." Bioinformatics. 15 (6). 1999. pp. 510-20.
    [ .pdf ] [ .ps ] [ PubMed ] [ WebSite ]

    MOTIVATION: An ontology of biological terminology provides a model of biological concepts that can be used to form a semantic framework for many data storage, retrieval and analysis tasks. Such a semantic framework could be used to underpin a range of important bioinformatics tasks, such as the querying of heterogeneous bioinformatics sources or the systematic annotation of experimental results. RESULTS: This paper provides an overview of an ontology [the Transparent Access to Multiple Biological Information Sources (TAMBIS) ontology or TaO] that describes a wide range of bioinformatics concepts. The present paper describes the mechanisms used for delivering the ontology and discusses the ontology's design and organization, which are crucial for maintaining the coherence of a large collection of concepts and their relationships. AVAILABILITY: The TAMBIS system, which uses a subset of the TaO described here, is accessible over the Web via http://img.cs.man.ac.uk/tambis (although in the first instance, we will use a password mechanism to limit the load on our server). The complete model is also available on the Web at the above URL.

    Keywords: Classification ; *Computational Biology ; Databases Factual ; Expert Systems ; Models Biological


  3. Ellis, L.B., Hershberger, C.D., Bryan, E.M., and Wackett, L.P.. "The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database: emphasizing enzymes." Nucleic Acids Res. 29 (1). 2001. pp. 340-3.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD, http://umbbd.ahc.umn.edu/) provides curated information on microbial catabolic enzymes and their organization into metabolic pathways. Currently, it contains information on over 400 enzymes. In the last year the enzyme page was enhanced to contain more internal and external links; it also displays the different metabolic pathways in which each enzyme participates. In collaboration with the Nomenclature Commission of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 35 UM-BBD enzymes were assigned complete EC codes during 2000. Bacterial oxygenases are heavily represented in the UM-BBD; they are known to have broad substrate specificity. A compilation of known reactions of naphthalene and toluene dioxygenases were recently added to the UM-BBD; 73 and 108 were listed respectively. In 2000 the UM-BBD is mirrored by two prestigious groups: the European Bioinformatics Institute and KEGG (the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes). Collaborations with other groups are being developed. The increased emphasis on UM-BBD enzymes is important for predicting novel metabolic pathways that might exist in nature or could be engineered. It also is important for current efforts in microbial genome annotation.

    Keywords: Bacteria_genetics ; Bacteria_metabolism ; Biodegradation ; Catalysis ; *Databases Factual ; Enzymes_genetics ; Enzymes_*metabolism ; Fungi_genetics ; Fungi_metabolism ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet


  4. Ellis, L.B., Hou, B.K., Kang, W., and Wackett, L.P.. "The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database: post-genomic data mining." Nucleic Acids Res. 31 (1). 2003. pp. 262-5.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD, http://umbbd.ahc.umn.edu/) provides curated information on microbial catabolism and related biotransformations, primarily for environmental pollutants. Currently, it contains information on over 130 metabolic pathways, 800 reactions, 750 compounds and 500 enzymes. In the past two years, it has increased its breath to include more examples of microbial metabolism of metals and metalloids; and expanded the types of information it includes to contain microbial biotransformations of, and binding interactions with many chemical elements. It has also increased the ways in which this data can be accessed (mined). Structure-based searching was added, for exact matches, similarity, or substructures. Analysis of UM-BBD reactions has lead to a prototype, guided, pathway prediction system. Guided prediction means that the user is shown all possible biotransformations at each step and guides the process to its conclusion. Mining the UM-BBD's data provides a unique view into how the microbial world recycles organic functional groups. UM-BBD users are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the database, including the information it contains and the tools by which it can be mined. The database and prediction system develop under the direction of the scientific community.


  5. Ellis, L.B., Hershberger, C.D., and Wackett, L.P.. "The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation database: microorganisms, genomics and prediction." Nucleic Acids Res. 28 (1). 2000. pp. 377-9.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (http://www.labmed.umn.edu/umbbd/ ) begins its fifth year having met its initial goals. It contains approximately 100 pathways for microbial catabolic metabolism of primarily xenobiotic organic compounds, including information on approximately 650 reactions, 600 compounds and 400 enzymes, and containing approximately 250 microorganism entries. It includes information on most known microbial catabolic reaction types and the organic functional groups they transform. Having reached its first goals, it is ready to move beyond them. It is poised to grow in many different ways, including mirror sites; fold prediction for its sequenced enzymes; closer ties to genome and microbial strain databases; and the prediction of biodegradation pathways for compounds it does not contain.

    Keywords: Biodegradation ; Catalysis ; *Databases Factual ; *Genome ; *Microbiology


  6. Ellis, L.B., Hershberger, C.D., and Wackett, L.P.. "The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database: specialized metabolism for functional genomics." Nucleic Acids Res. 27 (1). 1999. pp. 373-6.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD, http://www.labmed.umn.edu/umbbd/i nde x.html) first became available on the web in 1995 to provide information on microbial biocatalytic reactions of, and biodegradation pathways for, organic chemical compounds, especially those produced by man. Its goal is to become a representative database of biodegradation, spanning the diversity of known microbial metabolic routes, organic functional groups, and environmental conditions under which biodegradation occurs. The database can be used to enhance understanding of basic biochemistry, biocatalysis leading to speciality chemical manufacture, and biodegradation of environmental pollutants. It is also a resource for functional genomics, since it contains information on enzymes and genes involved in specialized metabolism not found in intermediary metabolism databases, and thus can assist in assigning functions to genes homologous to such less common genes. With information on >400 reactions and compounds, it is poised to become a resource for prediction of microbial biodegradation pathways for compounds it does not contain, a process complementary to predicting the functions of new classes of microbial genes.

    Keywords: Bacteria_genetics ; Bacteria_*metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins_metabolism ; *Biodegradation ; Biotechnology ; *Catalysis ; *Databases Factual_trends ; Environmental Pollution ; Enzymes_chemistry ; Enzymes_genetics ; Enzymes_metabolism ; Genes ; Bacterial_genetics ; Genes ; Bacterial_physiology ; Human ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; Minnesota ; Universities


  7. Kanehisa, M. and Goto, S.. "KEGG: kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes." Nucleic Acids Res. 28 (1). 2000. pp. 27-30.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) is a knowledge base for systematic analysis of gene functions, linking genomic information with higher order functional information. The genomic information is stored in the GENES database, which is a collection of gene catalogs for all the completely sequenced genomes and some partial genomes with up-to-date annotation of gene functions. The higher order functional information is stored in the PATHWAY database, which contains graphical representations of cellular processes, such as metabolism, membrane transport, signal transduction and cell cycle. The PATHWAY database is supplemented by a set of ortholog group tables for the information about conserved subpathways (pathway motifs), which are often encoded by positionally coupled genes on the chromosome and which are especially useful in predicting gene functions. A third database in KEGG is LIGAND for the information about chemical compounds, enzyme molecules and enzymatic reactions. KEGG provides Java graphics tools for browsing genome maps, comparing two genome maps and manipulating expression maps, as well as computational tools for sequence comparison, graph comparison and path computation. The KEGG databases are daily updated and made freely available (http://www. genome.ad.jp/kegg/).

    Keywords: *Databases Factual ; Gene Expression ; *Genome ; Human ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Proteins_genetics ; Proteins_metabolism


  8. Kanehisa, M., Goto, S., Kawashima, S., and Nakaya, A.. "The KEGG databases at GenomeNet." Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (1). 2002. pp. 42-6.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) is the primary database resource of the Japanese GenomeNet service (http://www.genome.ad.jp/) for understanding higher order functional meanings and utilities of the cell or the organism from its genome information. KEGG consists of the PATHWAY database for the computerized knowledge on molecular interaction networks such as pathways and complexes, the GENES database for the information about genes and proteins generated by genome sequencing projects, and the LIGAND database for the information about chemical compounds and chemical reactions that are relevant to cellular processes. In addition to these three main databases, limited amounts of experimental data for microarray gene expression profiles and yeast two-hybrid systems are stored in the EXPRESSION and BRITE databases, respectively. Furthermore, a new database, named SSDB, is available for exploring the universe of all protein coding genes in the complete genomes and for identifying functional links and ortholog groups. The data objects in the KEGG databases are all represented as graphs and various computational methods are developed to detect graph features that can be related to biological functions. For example, the correlated clusters are graph similarities which can be used to predict a set of genes coding for a pathway or a complex, as summarized in the ortholog group tables, and the cliques in the SSDB graph are used to annotate genes. The KEGG databases are updated daily and made freely available (http://www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/).

    Keywords: Computational Biology ; Computer Graphics ; *Databases Genetic ; *Databases Protein ; Gene Expression Profiling ; *Genome ; Human ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; Macromolecular Systems ; Metabolism_genetics ; Multigene Family ; Protein Conformation ; Proteins_chemistry ; Proteins_genetics ; Proteins_metabolism ; Sequence Homology


  9. Kawashima, T., Kawashima, S., Kanehisa, M., Nishida, H., and Makabe, K.W.. "MAGEST: MAboya gene expression patterns and sequence tags." Nucleic Acids Res. 28 (1). 2000. pp. 133-5.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    MAGEST is a database for newly identified maternal cDNAs of the ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi, which aims to examine the population of the mRNAs. We have collected 3' and 5' tag sequences of mRNAs and their expression data from whole-mount in situ hybridi-zation in early embryos. To date, we have determined more than 2000 tag-sequences of H.roretzi cDNAs and input them into public databases. The tag sequences and the expression data as well as additional information can be obtained through MAGEST via the WWW at http://www.genome.ad.jp/magest/

    Keywords: DNA Complementary ; *Databases Factual ; *Expressed Sequence Tags ; *Gene Expression ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Urochordata_*genetics


  10. Kawashima, T., Kawashima, S., Kohara, Y., Kanehisa, M., and Makabe, K.W.. "Update of MAGEST: Maboya Gene Expression patterns and Sequence Tags." Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (1). 2002. pp. 119-20.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    MAGEST is a database for maternal gene expression information for an ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi. The ascidian has become an animal model in developmental biological research because it shows a simple developmental process, and belongs to one of the chordate groups. Various data are deposited into the MAGEST database, e.g. the 3'- and 5'-tag sequences from the fertilized egg cDNA library, the results of similarity searches against GenBank and the expression data from whole mount in situ hybridization. Over the last 2 years, the data retrieval systems have been improved in several aspects, and the tag sequence entries have increased to over 20 000 clones. Additionally, we constructed a database, translated MAGEST, for the amino acid fragment sequences predicted from the EST data sets. Using this information comprehensively, we should obtain new information on gene functions. The MAGEST database is accessible via the Internet at http://www.genome.ad.jp/magest/.

    Keywords: Amino Acid Sequence ; DNA Complementary_genetics ; *Databases Genetic ; *Expressed Sequence Tags ; Forecasting ; *Gene Expression Regulation ; Developmental ; Gene Library ; In Situ Hybridization ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; RNA Messenger Stored_biosynthesis ; Urochordata_*embryology ; Urochordata_*genetics ; Urochordata_metabolism ; Zygote_metabolism


  11. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Paley, S.M., and Pellegrini-Toole, A.. "The MetaCyc Database." Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (1). 2002. pp. 59-61.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    MetaCyc is a metabolic-pathway database that describes 445 pathways and 1115 enzymes occurring in 158 organisms. MetaCyc is a review-level database in that a given entry in MetaCyc often integrates information from multiple literature sources. The pathways in MetaCyc were determined experimentally and are labeled with the species in which they are known to occur based on literature references examined to date. MetaCyc contains extensive commentary and literature citations. Applications of MetaCyc include pathway analysis of genomes, metabolic engineering and biochemistry education. MetaCyc is queried using the Pathway Tools graphical user interface, which provides a wide variety of query operations and visualization tools. MetaCyc is available via the World Wide Web at http://ecocyc.org/ecocyc/metacyc.html, and is available for local installation as a binary program for the PC and the Sun workstation, and as a set of flatfiles. Contact metacyc-info

    Keywords: Comparative Study ; Database Management Systems ; *Databases Protein ; Enzymes_chemistry ; Enzymes_*metabolism ; Genome ; Human ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; *Metabolism


  12. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Paley, S.M., and Pellegrini-Toole, A.. "EcoCyc: an encyclopedia of Escherichia coli genes and metabolism." Nucleic Acids Res. 24 (1). 1996. pp. 32-9.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The encyclopedia of Escherichia coli genes and metabolism (EcoCyc) is a database that combines information about the genome and the intermediary metabolism of E.coli. It describes 2034 genes, 306 enzymes encoded by these genes, 580 metabolic reactions that occur in E.coli and the organization of these reactions into 100 metabolic pathways. The EcoCyc graphical user interface allows query and exploration of the EcoCyc database using visualization tools such as genomic map browsers and automatic layouts of metabolic pathways. EcoCyc spans the space from sequence to function to allow investigation of an unusually broad range of questions. EcoCyc can be thought of as both an electronic review article, because of its copious references to the primary literature, and as an in silico model of E.coli that can be probed and analyzed through computational means.

    Keywords: Computer Communication Networks ; *Databases Factual ; Enzymes_metabolism ; Escherichia coli_enzymology ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; *Genome ; Bacterial ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Software ; User-Computer Interface


  13. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Paley, S.M., Pellegrini-Toole, A., and Krummenacker, M.. "EcoCyc: Enyclopedia of Escherichia coli Genes and Metabolism." Nucleic Acids Res. 25 (1). 1997. pp. 43-51.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The Encyclopedia of Genes and Metabolism (EcoCyc) is a database that combines information about the genome and the intermediary metabolism of Escherichia coli. It describes 2970 genes of E.coli, 547 enzymes encoded by these genes, 702 metabolic reactions that occur in E.coli and the organization of these reactions into 107 metabolic pathways. The EcoCyc graphical user interface allows scientists to query and explore the EcoCyc database using visualization tools such as genomic-map browsers and automatic layouts of metabolic pathways. EcoCyc spans the space from sequence to function to allow scientists to investigate an unusually broad range of questions. EcoCyc can be thought of as both an electronic review article because of its copious references to the primary literature, and as an in silicio model of E.coli metabolism that can be probed and analyzed through computational means.

    Keywords: Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; *Databases Factual ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; *Genes Bacterial ; User-Computer Interface


  14. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Paley, S.M., Pellegrini-Toole, A., and Krummenacker, M.. "EcoCyc: Encyclopedia of Escherichia coli genes and metabolism." Nucleic Acids Res. 26 (1). 1998. pp. 50-3.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The encyclopedia of Escherichia coli genes and metabolism (EcoCyc) is a database that combines information about the genome and the intermediary metabolism of E.coli. The database describes 3030 genes of E.coli , 695 enzymes encoded by a subset of these genes, 595 metabolic reactions that occur in E.coli, and the organization of these reactions into 123 metabolic pathways. The EcoCyc graphical user interface allows scientists to query and explore the EcoCyc database using visualization tools such as genomic-map browsers and automatic layouts of metabolic pathways. EcoCyc can be thought of as an electronic review article because of its copious references to the primary literature, and as a (qualitative) computational model of E.coli metabolism. EcoCyc is available at URL http://ecocyc.PangeaSystems.com/ecocyc/

    Keywords: Computer Graphics ; *Databases Factual_trends ; Encyclopedias ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; *Genes Bacterial ; User-Computer Interface


  15. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Paley, S.M., Pellegrini-Toole, A., and Krummenacker, M.. "Eco Cyc: encyclopedia of Escherichia coli genes and metabolism." Nucleic Acids Res. 27 (1). 1999. pp. 55-8.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    The EcoCyc database describes the genome and gene products of Escherichia coli, its metabolic and signal-transduction pathways, and its tRNAs. The database describes 4391 genes of E.coli, 695 enzymes encoded by a subset of these genes, 904 metabolic reactions that occur in E.coli, and the organization of these reactions into 129 metabolic pathways. The EcoCyc graphical user interface allows scientists to query and explore the EcoCyc database using visualization tools such as genomic-map browsers and automatic layouts of metabolic pathways. EcoCyc has many references to the primary literature, and is a (qualitative) computational model of E. coli metabolism. EcoCyc is available at URL http://ecocyc. PangeaSystems.com/ecocyc/

    Keywords: Classification ; *Databases Factual ; Enzymes_genetics ; Enzymes_metabolism ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; *Genes Bacterial ; Genome Bacterial ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; Signal Transduction ; User-Computer Interface


  16. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Saier, M., Paulsen, I.T., Paley, S.M., and Pellegrini-Toole, A.. "The EcoCyc and MetaCyc databases." Nucleic Acids Res. 28 (1). 2000. pp. 56-9.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    EcoCyc is an organism-specific Pathway/Genome Database that describes the metabolic and signal-transduction pathways of Escherichia coli, its enzymes, and-a new addition-its transport proteins. MetaCyc is a new metabolic-pathway database that describes pathways and enzymes of many different organisms, with a microbial focus. Both databases are queried using the Pathway Tools graphical user interface, which provides a wide variety of query operations and visualization tools. EcoCyc and MetaCyc are available at http://ecocyc.PangeaSystems.com/ecocyc/

    Keywords: Database Management Systems ; *Databases Factual ; Escherichia coli_genetics ; Genome ; Bacterial


  17. Karp, P.D., Riley, M., Saier, M., Paulsen, I.T., Collado-Vides, J., Paley, S.M., Pellegrini-Toole, A., Bonavides, C., and Gama-Castro, S.. "The EcoCyc Database." Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (1). 2002. pp. 56-8.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    EcoCyc is an organism-specific pathway/genome database that describes the metabolic and signal-transduction pathways of Escherichia coli, its enzymes, its transport proteins and its mechanisms of transcriptional control of gene expression. EcoCyc is queried using the Pathway Tools graphical user interface, which provides a wide variety of query operations and visualization tools. EcoCyc is available at http://ecocyc.org/.

    Keywords: Database Management Systems ; *Databases Genetic ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; Escherichia coli Proteins_*genetics ; Escherichia coli Proteins_*physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation Bacterial ; *Genome Bacterial ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; Internet ; Protein Transport ; Signal Transduction


  18. Karp, P.D.. "Pathway databases: a case study in computational symbolic theories." Science. 293 (5537). 2001. pp. 2040-4.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    A pathway database (DB) is a DB that describes biochemical pathways, reactions, and enzymes. The EcoCyc pathway DB (see http://ecocyc.org) describes the metabolic, transport, and genetic-regulatory networks of Escherichia coli. EcoCyc is an example of a computational symbolic theory, which is a DB that structures a scientific theory within a formal ontology so that it is available for computational analysis. It is argued that by encoding scientific theories in symbolic form, we open new realms of analysis and understanding for theories that would otherwise be too large and complex for scientists to reason with effectively.

    Keywords: Artificial Intelligence ; *Computational Biology ; Culture Media ; *Databases Factual ; Escherichia coli_enzymology ; Escherichia coli_*genetics ; Escherichia coli_growth and development ; Escherichia coli_*metabolism ; *Genome Bacterial ; Internet ; Software


  19. Ogata, H., Goto, S., Sato, K., Fujibuchi, W., Bono, H., and Kanehisa, M.. "KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes." Nucleic Acids Res. 27 (1). 1999. pp. 29-34.
    [ .pdf ] [ PubMed ]

    Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) is a knowledge base for systematic analysis of gene functions in terms of the networks of genes and molecules. The major component of KEGG is the PATHWAY database that consists of graphical diagrams of biochemical pathways including most of the known metabolic pathways and some of the known regulatory pathways. The pathway information is also represented by the ortholog group tables summarizing orthologous and paralogous gene groups among different organisms. KEGG maintains the GENES database for the gene catalogs of all organisms with complete genomes and selected organisms with partial genomes, which are continuously re-annotated, as well as the LIGAND database for chemical compounds and enzymes. Each gene catalog is associated with the graphical genome map for chromosomal locations that is represented by Java applet. In addition to the data collection efforts, KEGG develops and provides various computational tools, such as for reconstructing biochemical pathways from the complete genome sequence and for predicting gene regulatory networks from the gene expression profiles. The KEGG databases are daily updated and made freely available (http://www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/).

    Keywords: Computational Biology ; *Databases Factual ; Gene Expression ; *Genes ; *Genome ; Ligands ; Metabolism ; Sequence Homology


  20. Stevens, R., Baker, P.G., Bechhofer, S., Ng, G., Jacoby, A., Paton, N.W., Goble, C.A., and Brass, A.. "TAMBIS: transparent access to multiple bioinformatics information sources." Bioinformatics. 16 (2). 2000. pp. 184-5.
    [ PubMed ] [ WebSite ]

    SUMMARY: TAMBIS (Transparent Access to Multiple Bioinformatics Information Sources) is an application that allows biologists to ask rich and complex questions over a range of bioinformatics resources. It is based on a model of the knowledge of the concepts and their relationships in molecular biology and bioinformatics. AVAILABILITY: TAMBIS is available as an applet from http://img.cs.man.ac.uk/tambis SUPPLEMENTARY: A full manual tutorial and videos can be found at http://img.cs.man.ac.uk/tambis. CONTACT: tambis

    Keywords: Computational Biology ; *Information Storage and Retrieval ; *Software


  21. Yeh, I., Karp, P.D., Noy, N.F., and Altman, R.B.. "Knowledge acquisition, consistency checking and concurrency control for Gene Ontology (GO)." Bioinformatics. 19 (2). 2003. pp. 241-8.
    [ PubMed ] [ WebSite ]

    Motivation: A critical element of the computational infrastructure required for functional genomics is a shared language for communicating biological data and knowledge. The Gene Ontology (GO; http://www.geneontology.org) provides a taxonomy of concepts and their attributes for annotating gene products. As GO increases in size its ongoing construction and maintenance becomes more challenging. In this paper, we assess the applicability of a Knowledge Base Management System (KBMS), Protege-2000, to the maintenance and development of GO. Results: We transferred GO to Protege-2000 in order to evaluate its suitability for GO. The graphical user interface supported browsing and editing of GO. Tools for consistency checking identified minor inconsistencies in GO and opportunities to reduce redundancy in its representation. The Protege Axiom Language proved useful for checking ontological consistency. The PROMPT tool allowed us to track changes to GO. Using Protege-2000, we tested our ability to make changes and extensions to GO to refine the semantics of attributes and classify more concepts. Availability: Gene Ontology in Protege-2000 and the associated code are located at http://smi.stanford.edu/projects/helix/gokbms/. Protege-2000 is available from http://protege.stanford.edu. Contact: russ.altman