Semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources using software connectors

BMC Genomics

Research

Ricardo ZN Vêncio¹  Gabriela DA Guardia¹  Flávia A Miyazaki¹  Cléver RG de Farias¹ 

[1] Department of Computer Science and Mathematics (DCM/FFCLRP), University of São Paulo (USP) Av. Bandeirantes, 3900 - Monte Alegre - Ribeirão Preto, SP - 14040-901, Brazil;

关键词: Unify Modeling Language;    Semantic Integration;    Reference Ontology;    Unify Modeling Language Class Diagram;    Sequence Ontology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-14-S6-S2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe study and analysis of gene expression measurements is the primary focus of functional genomics. Once expression data is available, biologists are faced with the task of extracting (new) knowledge associated to the underlying biological phenomenon. Most often, in order to perform this task, biologists execute a number of analysis activities on the available gene expression dataset rather than a single analysis activity. The integration of heteregeneous tools and data sources to create an integrated analysis environment represents a challenging and error-prone task. Semantic integration enables the assignment of unambiguous meanings to data shared among different applications in an integrated environment, allowing the exchange of data in a semantically consistent and meaningful way. This work aims at developing an ontology-based methodology for the semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources. The proposed methodology relies on software connectors to support not only the access to heterogeneous data sources but also the definition of transformation rules on exchanged data.ResultsWe have studied the different challenges involved in the integration of computer systems and the role software connectors play in this task. We have also studied a number of gene expression technologies, analysis tools and related ontologies in order to devise basic integration scenarios and propose a reference ontology for the gene expression domain. Then, we have defined a number of activities and associated guidelines to prescribe how the development of connectors should be carried out. Finally, we have applied the proposed methodology in the construction of three different integration scenarios involving the use of different tools for the analysis of different types of gene expression data.ConclusionsThe proposed methodology facilitates the development of connectors capable of semantically integrating different gene expression analysis tools and data sources. The methodology can be used in the development of connectors supporting both simple and nontrivial processing requirements, thus assuring accurate data exchange and information interpretation from exchanged data.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Miyazaki et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.