Primer on the Gene Ontology

Pascale Gaudet; Nives Škunca; James C Hu; Christophe Dessimoz

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3743-1_3

Primer on the Gene Ontology

Methods Mol Biol. 2017:1446:25-37. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3743-1_3.

Authors

Pascale Gaudet^{1

2}, Nives Škunca^{3

4

5}, James C Hu⁶, Christophe Dessimoz^{7

8

9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ CALIPHO group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Centre Medical Universitaire, 1 Michel-Servet, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland. pascale.gaudet@sib.swiss.
² Department of Human Protein Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. pascale.gaudet@sib.swiss.
³ Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 19, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Universitätstr. 19, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ University College London, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University and Texas AgriLife Research, College Station, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁸ Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Biophore, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Street Biophore, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Center of Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Biophore, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower St, Lausanne, WC1E 6BT, UK.

Abstract

The Gene Ontology (GO) project is the largest resource for cataloguing gene function. The combination of solid conceptual underpinnings and a practical set of features have made the GO a widely adopted resource in the research community and an essential resource for data analysis. In this chapter, we provide a concise primer for all users of the GO. We briefly introduce the structure of the ontology and explain how to interpret annotations associated with the GO.

Keywords: Annotation evidence; Annotations; Evidence codes; Function; GO files; Gene Ontology structure; Gene association file (GAF); Vocabulary.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Computational Biology / methods*
DNA / genetics
Databases, Genetic
Gene Ontology*
Humans
Internet
Proteins / genetics
RNA / genetics

Substances

Proteins
RNA
DNA

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding