Ontological foundation for protein data models

Abstract

In this paper we proposed a Protein Ontology to integrate protein data and information from various Protein Data Sources. Protein Ontology provides the technical and scientific infrastructure and knowledge to allow description and analysis of relationships between various proteins. Protein Ontology uses relevant protein data sources of information like PDB, SCOP, and OMIM. Protein Ontology describes: Protein Sequence and Structure Information, Protein Folding Process, Cellular Functions of Proteins, Molecular Bindings internal and external to Proteins, and Constraints affecting the Final Protein Conformation. We also created a database of 10 Major Prion Proteins available in various Protein data sources, based on the vocabulary provided by Protein Ontology. Details about Protein Ontology are available online at http://www. proteinontology.info/. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.