WikiPathways: pathway editing for the people

Abstract

WikiPathways provides a collaborative platform for creating, updating, and sharing pathway diagrams and serves as an example of content curation by the biology community.

Figure 1. Two Models for Managing Biological Data

Current biological databases provide the community with data submission forms or tools and access to the compiled data via websites, FTP sites, and, sometimes, programmatic interfaces (API). Internal curation teams organize and update the data. A wiki model for biological databases, such as WikiPathways, provides a single, intuitive interface for submitting, updating, organizing, and accessing data, allowing the community to participate in the curation process and keep up with the influx of new data. The widths of the arrows represent the relative capacity for data management in the two models.

Figure 2. Sample WikiPathways Page

Each pathway has a dedicated page for viewing and editing content. The pathway diagram is edited with an embedded applet version of PathVisio (inset). The Description and Bibliography sections can be edited in-page as well through applets that facilitate entry. Additional information about the pathway components and version history continue on the page (not shown).