2000 【ng0500_25】 Gene Ontology-tool for the unification of biology.pdf

© 2000 Nature America Inc. • commentary Gene Ontology: tool for the unification of biology The Gene Ontology Consortium* Genomic sequencing has made it clear that a large fraction of the genes specifying the core biological functions are shared by all eukaryotes. Knowledge of the biological role of such shared proteins in one organism can often be transferred to other organisms. The goal of the Gene Ontology Consortium is to produce a dynamic, controlled vocabulary that can be applied to all eukaryotes even as knowledge of gene and protein roles in cells is accumulating and changing. To this end, three independent ontologies accessible on the World-Wide Web () are being constructed: biological process, molecular function and cellular component. m o The accelerating availability of molecular sequences, particularly The first comparison between two complete eukaryotic c 5 . the sequences of entire genomes, has transformed both the the- genomes (budding yeast and worm ) revealed that a surpris- e r u ory and practice of experimental biology. Where once bio- ingly large fraction of the genes in these two organisms dis- t a chemists characterized proteins by their diverse activities and played evidence of orthology. About 12% of the worm genes n . s abundances, and geneticists characterized genes by the pheno- (∼ 18,000) encode proteins whose biological rol