The Gene Ontology: enhancements for 2011

Abstract

The Gene Ontology (GO) (http://www.geneontology.org) is a community bioinformatics resource that represents gene product function through the use of structured, controlled vocabularies. The number of GO annotations of gene products has increased due to curation efforts among GO Consortium (GOC) groups, including focused literature-based annotation and ortholog-based functional inference. The GO ontologies continue to expand and improve as a result of targeted ontology development, including the introduction of computable logical definitions and development of new tools for the streamlined addition of terms to the ontology. The GOC continues to support its user community through the use of e-mail lists, social media and web-based resources.

Figure 1.

Graphical view of the term ‘sequence-specific DNA binding transcription factor activity’ (GO:0003700). The grey arrows represent has_part relationships. The blue arrows represent is_a relationships. The purple arrow represents a regulates relationship. The gold arrows represent part_of relationships.

Figure 2.

Graphical view showing the inherent GO-chemical (GOChe) ontology and ChEBI. Black arrows represent CHEBI is_a relationships. Blue arrows represent GOChe is_a relationships. Note that the term ‘homopolysaccharide’ only exists in ChEBI.