Protein Ontology: Semantic Data Integration in Proteomics

The Protein Structural and Functional Conservation need a common language for data definition. With the help of common language provided by Protein Ontology the high level of sequence and functional conservation can be extended to all organisms with the likelihood that proteins that carry out core biological processes will again be probable orthologues. The structural and functional conservation in these proteins presents both opportunities and challenges. The main opportunity lies in the possibility of automated transfer of protein data annotations from experimentally traceable model organisms to a less traceable organism based on protein sequence similarity. Such information can be used to improve human health or agriculture. The challenge lies in using a common language to transfer protein data annotations among different species of organisms. First step in achieving this huge challenge is producing a structured, precisely defined common vocabulary using Protein Ontology. The Protein Ontology described in this paper covers the sequence, structure and biological roles of Protein Complexes in any organism.