Quality control for terms and definitions in ontologies and taxonomies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ontologies and taxonomies are among the most important computational resources for molecular biology and bioinformatics. A series of recent papers has shown that the Gene Ontology (GO), the most prominent taxonomic resource in these fields, is marked by flaws of certain characteristic types, which flow from a failure to address basic ontological principles. As yet, no methods have been proposed which would allow ontology curators to pinpoint flawed terms or definitions in ontologies in a systematic way.

Results

We present computational methods that automatically identify terms and definitions which are defined in a circular or unintelligible way. We further demonstrate the potential of these methods by applying them to isolate a subset of 6001 problematic GO terms

SUBMITTER: Kohler J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1482721 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature