Toll-like receptor signaling in vertebrates: testing the integration of protein, complex, and pathway data in the protein ontology framework.

Journal: PloS one
Published Date:

Abstract

The Protein Ontology (PRO) provides terms for and supports annotation of species-specific protein complexes in an ontology framework that relates them both to their components and to species-independent families of complexes. Comprehensive curation of experimentally known forms and annotations thereof is expected to expose discrepancies, differences, and gaps in our knowledge. We have annotated the early events of innate immune signaling mediated by Toll-Like Receptor 3 and 4 complexes in human, mouse, and chicken. The resulting ontology and annotation data set has allowed us to identify species-specific gaps in experimental data and possible functional differences between species, and to employ inferred structural and functional relationships to suggest plausible resolutions of these discrepancies and gaps.

Authors

  • Cecilia Arighi
    Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States of America.
  • Veronica Shamovsky
    Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.
  • Anna Maria Masci
    Department of Immunology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
  • Alan Ruttenberg
    School of Dental Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
  • Barry Smith
    Department of Philosophy, University at Buffalo, NY, USA.
  • Darren A Natale
    Protein Information Resource, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D. C., United States of America.
  • Cathy Wu
    Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States of America; Protein Information Resource, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D. C., United States of America.
  • Peter D'Eustachio
    Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology, NYU. Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States.