Ontology-based Knowledge Representation for Protein Data

Abstract

The advances in information and communication technologies coupled with increased knowledge about genes and proteins have opened new perspectives for study of protein complexes. There is a growing need to integrate the knowledge about various protein complexes for effective disease prevention mechanisms, individualized medicines and treatments and other accepts of healthcare. In this paper we propose a protein ontology that handles the following computational challenges in the area proteomics and systems biology in general: (1) it provides more accurate interpretations and associations as conclusions are based on data and semantics. (2) It makes it possible to study relationships among proteins, protein folding, behaviour of protein under various environments, and most importantly cellular function of protein. This protein ontology is a unified terminology description integrating various protein database schemas and provides a easier way to predict and understand proteins.