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''This project arose from a [http://www.nescent.org/science/workinggroup.php NESCent Working Group] led by Paula Mabee and Monte Westerfield, "Towards an Integrated Database for Fish Evolution". [[Fish Evolution Working Group|Goals and summaries of the group]] are archived on this wiki.''
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* Try the [http://kb.phenoscape.org Phenoscape Knowledgebase].  Your feedback is welcome!
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* Check out the latest news on the [http://blog.phenoscape.org/ Phenoscape blog]
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==Linking Evolution to Genomics Using Phenotype Ontologies==
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== Enabling Machine-actionable Semantics for Comparative Analysis of Trait Evolution (SCATE) ==
  
[[Image:NESCent Logo.png|right]]
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Our objective with this project is to create infrastructure that will provide comparative trait analysis tools easy access to algorithms powered by machine reasoning with the semantics of trait descriptions. Similar to how Google, IBM Watson, and others have enabled developers of smartphone apps to incorporate, with only a few lines of code, complex machine-learning and artificial intelligence capabilities such as sentiment analysis, we aim to demonstrate how easy access to knowledge computing opens up new opportunities for analysis, tools, and research in comparative trait analysis. As driving biological research questions, we focus on addressing three long-standing limitations in comparative studies of trait evolution: recombining trait data, modeling trait evolution, and generating testable hypotheses for the drivers of trait adaptation.
===About this project===
 
  
What are the developmental and genetic bases of evolutionary differences in morphology across species?  Currently it is difficult to approach this question due to a lack of computational tools that allow researchers to integrate developmental genetic and comparative morphological/anatomical data.
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More information about this project, including participating PIs and funding, can be found at its [http://scate.phenoscape.org project website].
  
[[Image:Ctol Logo.jpg|right]] [[Image:Zfinlogo.png|left]] We are addressing this by developing a database of evolutionarily variable morphological characters for a large clade of fishes (the Ostariophysi) and connecting this database to the large collection of mutant phenotypes in the [http://zfin.org ZFIN database], the central database of the zebrafish model organism community. The evolutionary and mutant phenotypes are being described using common [[#The_Role_of_Ontologies|ontologies]].  The database with its web-interface, called EQSYTE (Entity-Quality System for Trait Evolution), together with the extended ontologies and data curation tools, will allow researchers to ask novel questions about the genetic and developmental regulation of evolutionary morphological transitions. Tool and database development are being guided by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_case use cases], or driving research questions, defined by the devo-evo community.  These tools are being developed under an open-source, open-development model, and in such a way that they can be used for additional biological systems in the future.
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== Previous Phenoscape and precursor projects ==
  
[[Image:Deepfin Logo.gif|right]] This project is a unique collaboration between evolutionary and model organism biologists including two national centers ([http://www.nescent.org NESCent] and [http://www.bioontology.org NCBO]), the [http://zfin.org ZFIN model organism database], the [http://bio.slu.edu/mayden/cypriniformes/home.html Cypriniformes Tree of Life] project, the [http://www.deepfin.org/ DeepFin Research Coordination Network], and the morphological image databases used by the evolutionary biology community ([http://www.morphbank.net/ Morphbank], [http://morphobank.geongrid.org/ MorphoBank], [http://digimorph.org/ DigiMorph], [http://www.digitalfishlibrary.org/ Digital Fish Library]).
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* [[Ontology-enabled reasoning across phenotypes from evolution and model organisms]] ("Phenoscape II")
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* [[Linking Evolution to Genomics Using Phenotype Ontologies]] ("Phenoscape I")
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* [[Fish Evolution Working Group|Towards an Integrated Database for Fish Evolution]] (A [http://nescent.org NESCent] Working Group)
  
===The Role of Ontologies===
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== Acknowledgments ==
[[Image:Ncbo logo.gif|right]]
 
====Background====
 
  
Ontologies are constrained, structured vocabularies with well defined relationships among terms. Ontologies represent the knowledge-base of a particular discipline, and provide not only a mechanism for consistent annotation of data, but also greater interoperability among people and machines. The most widely used biological ontology is the [http://www.geneontology.org Gene Ontology], which is utilized to annotate molecular function, biological processes and subcellular localization to gene products from different organisms.
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| The [http://scate.phenoscape.org SCATE project] has been funded by NSF collaborative grants DBI-1661456 (Duke University), DBI-1661529 (Virginia Tech), DBI-1661516 (University of South Dakota), and DBI-1661356 (UNC Chapel Hill and RENCI) from Sep 1, 2017 to Aug 31, 2020. The grant proposal text with references is publicly available: ''W. Dahdul, J.P. Balhoff, H. Lapp, J. Uyeda, & T.J. Vision. (2017). Enabling machine-actionable semantics for comparative analyses of trait evolution. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.885538''.
  
====Phenotype ontologies====
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The Phenoscape II project ("[[Ontology-enabled reasoning across phenotypes from evolution and model organisms]]") was funded by NSF collaborative grants DBI-1062404 and DBI-1062542 from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2018, and supported by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), NSF #EF-0905606.  The original Project Description for this grant is available [[:File:Phenoscape_Project_description_refs.pdf| here]].
  
[[Image:EAV4_layers_flat2.png|right|320px]] For model organisms : Approximately 500 mutant zebrafish lines (alleles) with over 660 annotated phenotypic characters from the jaw or gill arches (n=250), fins (n=210), axial skeleton (n=190) and other features (n=10) of the skeleton have been described. Researchers in the [http://www.zfin.org Zebrafish Information Network] (ZFIN) are annotating mutant phenotypes using the [http://obofoundry.org/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?id=zebrafish_anatomy&title=Zebrafish%20anatomy%20and%20development zebrafish anatomy ontology] and the [http://www.bioontology.org/wiki/index.php/PATO:Main_Page Phenotype And Trait Ontology] (PATO). PATO is a “universal” ontology of terms describing qualities (e.g. shape, color, size) that may be applied to any organism.
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These projects would not have been possible without the hard work of [[Acknowledgments#Contributors| numerous contributors]] and the results obtained in the [[Linking Evolution to Genomics Using Phenotype Ontologies]] project, which was funded by NSF grant BDI-0641025 from June 1, 2007, to Jun 30, 2011, and was supported by NESCent, NSF #EF-0423641. This earlier project in turn arose from a NESCent <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.nescent.org/science/workinggroup.php Working Group]</span> led by Paula Mabee and Monte Westerfield, "[[Fish Evolution Working Group|Towards an Integrated Database for Fish Evolution]]."
 
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| https://www.nescent.org/about/images/nsf_logo.jpg
====Anatomical ontologies====
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A multi-species ontology for ostariophysan fishes, The Anatomy of Ostariophysi <!-- or: The Anatomical Ontology --> (TAO), is being developed by expanding on the terms in the zebrafish anatomical ontology.  To begin with, development of the TAO will concentrate on the skeletal system because it varies significantly across the Ostariophysi, is well-preserved in fossil specimens, and it is often the focus of morphologically-based evolutionary studies in ichthyology.  The [http://zfin.org/zf_info/anatomy/dict/sum.html zebrafish anatomical ontology] currently contains 236 skeletal system entities.
 
 
 
The multi-species anatomy ontology for ostariophysan fishes will be used in combination with the PATO ontology (see EQ format) to describe the naturally occurring phenotypes in non-model species (i.e. various ostariophysan fish species).  We are also developing a separate catalog of homology statements for entities within TAO, so that individual investigators may select particular relationships based on evidence.
 
 
 
====Taxonomic ontology====
 
 
 
Together with taxonomic experts, we are developing a taxonomic ontology (based on the [http://www.calacademy.org/RESEARCH/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatsearch.html Catalog of Fishes]) in order to relate species with particular characters and states.  The taxonomic ontology will include nodes ancestral to the Ostariophysi as far back as the Vertebrata in order to associate certain anatomical terms with more inclusive clades than the Ostariophysi. 
 
 
 
====Fish Morphology====
 
 
 
Although the comparative anatomy of fishes has been documented in the literature for several hundred years, it is not available in a computable format.  A Data Curator will input morphological character data that is gleaned from the literature, culled by experts and the [http://www.deepfin.org/ ichthyological community].  Our goal is to [[Morphology|input approximately 4,000 morphological features]] in an “EQ” format ([[Media:TREE Mabee.pdf|Mabee et al. 2007a]]<!--; Mabee et al. 2007 in process-->) using a combination of ontologies.
 
 
 
===Help needed===
 
 
 
We are hiring two research programmers. See the [http://www.nescent.org/about/employment.php NESCent employment page] for more details.  
 
 
 
===Contact===
 
 
 
Paula Mabee (University of South Dakota) is the Principal Investigator. Co-principal investigators are Todd Vision (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Monte Westerfield (University of Oregon, ZFIN), and Hilmar Lapp (NESCent) ([[Contact|see their contact addresses]]).
 
  
 
==Pages of public interest==
 
==Pages of public interest==
  
* [[Ontology_Data_Service_API|Ontology Data Service API Description]]
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* [[Training and Workshops]]

Revision as of 19:16, 6 December 2019

Enabling Machine-actionable Semantics for Comparative Analysis of Trait Evolution (SCATE)

Our objective with this project is to create infrastructure that will provide comparative trait analysis tools easy access to algorithms powered by machine reasoning with the semantics of trait descriptions. Similar to how Google, IBM Watson, and others have enabled developers of smartphone apps to incorporate, with only a few lines of code, complex machine-learning and artificial intelligence capabilities such as sentiment analysis, we aim to demonstrate how easy access to knowledge computing opens up new opportunities for analysis, tools, and research in comparative trait analysis. As driving biological research questions, we focus on addressing three long-standing limitations in comparative studies of trait evolution: recombining trait data, modeling trait evolution, and generating testable hypotheses for the drivers of trait adaptation.

More information about this project, including participating PIs and funding, can be found at its project website.

Previous Phenoscape and precursor projects

Acknowledgments

The SCATE project has been funded by NSF collaborative grants DBI-1661456 (Duke University), DBI-1661529 (Virginia Tech), DBI-1661516 (University of South Dakota), and DBI-1661356 (UNC Chapel Hill and RENCI) from Sep 1, 2017 to Aug 31, 2020. The grant proposal text with references is publicly available: W. Dahdul, J.P. Balhoff, H. Lapp, J. Uyeda, & T.J. Vision. (2017). Enabling machine-actionable semantics for comparative analyses of trait evolution. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.885538.

The Phenoscape II project ("Ontology-enabled reasoning across phenotypes from evolution and model organisms") was funded by NSF collaborative grants DBI-1062404 and DBI-1062542 from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2018, and supported by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), NSF #EF-0905606. The original Project Description for this grant is available here.

These projects would not have been possible without the hard work of numerous contributors and the results obtained in the Linking Evolution to Genomics Using Phenotype Ontologies project, which was funded by NSF grant BDI-0641025 from June 1, 2007, to Jun 30, 2011, and was supported by NESCent, NSF #EF-0423641. This earlier project in turn arose from a NESCent Working Group led by Paula Mabee and Monte Westerfield, "Towards an Integrated Database for Fish Evolution."

nsf_logo.jpg

Pages of public interest