Transitive homology
This page explores the transitive closure of the homologous_to relation. Currently in OBD this is a binary class-level relation that holds between two taxon-specific anatomical entities.
I propose the following expansion to OWL-DL instance-level quantified axioms:
homologous_to(A,B) ==> Class: A SubClassOf: descendedFrom some (hasDescendant some B) Class: B SubClassOf: descendedFrom some (hasDescendant some A)
If we make the simplifying assumption that directlyDescendsFrom is functional then it follows that class-level homology is transitive. What are the consequences of making this strong assumption? We can explore this with existing phenoscape data.
High Level Overview
Otophysi intercalarium
this is annotated to be homologous to the neural arch 2 and vertebra 2 in Teleosti. From this, what can be said of the relationship between these two entities?
Note that for compactness reasons this diagram doesn't show the part_of relations.
- intercalarium part_of v2
presumably there should be some kind of relationship between "rib of v2" and "v2"
Otophysi tripus
this is annotated to be homologous to (i) the fusion of parapophysis + rib of v3 and (ii) the fusion of parapophysis + rib of v3 + rib of v4 in Teleosti. What can be said from this of the relation between (i) and (ii)
