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Results for “protein function prediction”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Functional genomics of lipid metabolism in the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides

The basidiomycete yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides (also known as Rhodotorula toruloides) accumulates high concentrations of lipids and carotenoids from diverse carbon sources. It has great potential as a model for the cellular biology of lipid droplets and for sustainable chemical production. We developed a method for high-throughput genetics (RB-TDNAseq), using sequence-barcoded Agrobacterium tumefaciens T-DNA insertions. We identified 1,337 putative essential genes with low T-DNA insertion rates. We functionally profiled genes required for fatty acid catabolism and lipid accumulation, validating results with 35 targeted deletion strains. We identified a high-confidence set of 150 genes affecting lipid accumulation, including genes with predicted function in signaling cascades, gene expression, protein modification and vesicular trafficking, autophagy, amino acid synthesis and tRNA modification, and genes of unknown function. These results greatly advance our understanding of lipid metabolism in this oleaginous species and demonstrate a general approach for barcoded mutagenesis that should enable functional genomics in diverse fungi.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Establishing the precise evolutionary history of a gene improves prediction of disease-causing missense mutations

Here, predicting the phenotypic effects of mutations has become an important application in clinical genetic diagnostics. Computational tools evaluate the behavior of the variant over evolutionary time and assume that variations seen during the course of evolution are probably benign in humans. However, current tools do not take into account orthologous/paralogous relationships. Paralogs have dramatically different roles in Mendelian diseases. For example, whereas inactivating mutations in the NPC1 gene cause the neurodegenerative disorder Niemann-Pick C, inactivating mutations in its paralog NPC1L1 are not disease-causing and, moreover, are implicated in protection from coronary heart disease. Methods: We identified major events in NPC1 evolution and revealed and compared orthologs and paralogs of the human NPC1 gene through phylogenetic and protein sequence analyses. We predicted whether an amino acid substitution affects protein function by reducing the organism s fitness. As a result, removing the paralogs and distant homologs improved the overall performance of categorizing disease-causing and benign amino acid substitutions. In conclusion, the results show that a thorough evolutionary analysis followed by identification of orthologs improves the accuracy in predicting disease-causing missense mutations. We anticipate that this approach will be used as a reference in the interpretation of variants in other genetic diseases as well.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Combining pairwise structural similarity and deep learning interface contact prediction to estimate protein complex model accuracy in CASP15

Abstract Estimating the accuracy of quaternary structural models of protein complexes and assemblies (EMA) is important for predicting quaternary structures and applying them to studying protein function and interaction. The pairwise similarity between structural models is proven useful for estimating the quality of protein tertiary structural models, but it has been rarely applied to predicting the quality of quaternary structural models. Moreover, the pairwise similarity approach often fails when many structural models are of low quality and similar to each other. To address the gap, we developed a hybrid method (MULTICOM_qa) combining a pairwise similarity score (PSS) and an interface contact probability score (ICPS) based on the deep learning inter‐chain contact prediction for estimating protein complex model accuracy. It blindly participated in the 15th Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP15) in 2022 and performed very well in estimating the global structure accuracy of assembly models. The average per‐target correlation coefficient between the model quality scores predicted by MULTICOM_qa and the true quality scores of the models of CASP15 assembly targets is 0.66. The average per‐target ranking loss in using the predicted quality scores to rank the models is 0.14. It was able to select good models for most targets. Moreover, several key factors (i.e., target difficulty, model sampling difficulty, skewness of model quality, and similarity between good/bad models) for EMA are identified and analyzed. The results demonstrate that combining the multi‐model method (PSS) with the complementary single‐model method (ICPS) is a promising approach to EMA.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Site-Directed Mutagenesis of IRX9, IRX9L and IRX14 Proteins Involved in Xylan Biosynthesis: Glycosyltransferase Activity Is Not Required for IRX9 Function in Arabidopsis

Xylans constitute the main non-cellulosic polysaccharide in the secondary cell walls of plants. Several genes predicted to encode glycosyltransferases are required for the synthesis of the xylan backbone even though it is a homopolymer consisting entirely of b-1,4-linked xylose residues. The putative glycosyltransferases IRX9, IRX14, and IRX10 (or the paralogs IRX9L, IRX14L, and IRX10L) are required for xylan backbone synthesis in Arabidopsis. To investigate the function of IRX9, IRX9L, and IRX14, we identified amino acid residues known to be essential for catalytic function in homologous mammalian proteins and generated modified cDNA clones encoding proteins where these residues would be mutated. The mutated gene constructs were used to transform wild-type Arabidopsis plants and the irx9 and irx14 mutants, which are deficient in xylan synthesis. The ability of the mutated proteins to complement the mutants was investigated by measuring growth, determining cell wall composition, and microscopic analysis of stem cross-sections of the transgenic plants. The six different mutated versions of IRX9 and IRX9-L were all able to complement the irx9 mutant phenotype, indicating that residues known to be essential for glycosyltransferases function in homologous proteins are not essential for the biological function of IRX9/IRX9L. Two out of three mutated IRX14 complemented the irx14 mutant, including a mutant in the predicted catalytic amino acid. A IRX14 protein mutated in the substrate-binding DxD motif did not complement the irx14 mutant. Thus, substrate binding is important for IRX14 function but catalytic activity may not be essential for the function of the protein. The data indicate that IRX9/IRX9L have an essential structural function, most likely by interacting with the IRX10/ IRX10L proteins, but do not have an essential catalytic function. Most likely IRX14 also has primarily a structural role, but it cannot be excluded that the protein has an important enzymatic activity.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

DeepComplex: A Web Server of Predicting Protein Complex Structures by Deep Learning Inter-chain Contact Prediction and Distance-Based Modelling

Proteins interact to form complexes. Predicting the quaternary structure of protein complexes is useful for protein function analysis, protein engineering, and drug design. However, few user-friendly tools leveraging the latest deep learning technology for inter-chain contact prediction and the distance-based modelling to predict protein quaternary structures are available. To address this gap, we develop DeepComplex, a web server for predicting structures of dimeric protein complexes. It uses deep learning to predict inter-chain contacts in a homodimer or heterodimer. The predicted contacts are then used to construct a quaternary structure of the dimer by the distance-based modelling, which can be interactively viewed and analysed. The web server is freely accessible and requires no registration. It can be easily used by providing a job name and an email address along with the tertiary structure for one chain of a homodimer or two chains of a heterodimer. The output webpage provides the multiple sequence alignment, predicted inter-chain residue-residue contact map, and predicted quaternary structure of the dimer.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Integrated Genome-Based Studies of Shewanella Ecophysiology

Integration of bioinformatics and experimental techniques was applied to mapping and characterization of the key components (pathways, enzymes, transporters, regulators) of the core metabolic machinery in Shewanella oneidensis and related species with main focus was on metabolic and regulatory pathways involved in utilization of various carbon and energy sources. Among the main accomplishments reflected in ten joint publications with other participants of Shewanella Federation are: (i) A systems-level reconstruction of carbohydrate utilization pathways in the genus of Shewanella (19 species). This analysis yielded reconstruction of 18 sugar utilization pathways including 10 novel pathway variants and prediction of > 60 novel protein families of enzymes, transporters and regulators involved in these pathways. Selected functional predictions were verified by focused biochemical and genetic experiments. Observed growth phenotypes were consistent with bioinformatic predictions providing strong validation of the technology and (ii) Global genomic reconstruction of transcriptional regulons in 16 Shewanella genomes. The inferred regulatory network includes 82 transcription factors, 8 riboswitches and 6 translational attenuators. Of those, 45 regulons were inferred directly from the genome context analysis, whereas others were propagated from previously characterized regulons in other species. Selected regulatory predictions were experimentally tested. Integration of this analysis with microarray data revealed overall consistency and provided additional layer of interactions between regulons. All the results were captured in the new database RegPrecise, which is a joint development with the LBNL team. A more detailed analysis of the individual subsystems, pathways and regulons in Shewanella spp included bioinfiormatics-based prediction and experimental characterization of: (i) N-Acetylglucosamine catabolic pathway; (ii)Lactate utilization machinery; (iii) Novel NrtR regulator of NAD biosynthesis; (iv) HexR-controlled global regulon in central metabolism. In addition to numerous specific findings contributing to basic understanding of ecophysiology and evolution of Shewanella, the key components of the integrative genomic methodology of general utility for the community were optimized, validated and disseminated.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Plasmodium falciparum exported protein PF3D7_0402000 binds to erythrocyte ankyrin and band 4.1

Plasmodium proteins are exported to the erythrocyte cytoplasm to create an environment that supports parasite replication. Although hundreds of proteins are predicted to be exported through PEXEL-dependent and -independent mechanisms, the functions of exported proteins are largely uncharacterized. In this study, we used a biochemical screening approach to identify exported P. falciparum proteins that bound to inside-out vesicles prepared from erythrocytes. Out of 70 exported P. falciparum proteins tested, 18 bound to IOVs in 2 or more independent assays. Using co-affinity purifications followed by mass spectrometry, pairwise co-purification experiments and the split-luciferase assay, we identified 31 putative protein-protein interactions between erythrocyte cytoskeletal proteins and exported P. falciparum proteins. We further showed that PF3D7_1401600 binds to the spectrin-binding domain of erythrocyte ankyrin via its MESA erythrocyte cytoskeleton binding (MEC) motif and to the N-terminal domains of ankyrin and 4.1R through a fragment that required an intact PHIST domain. Introduction of PF3D7_1401600 into erythrocyte ghosts increased retention in the microsphiltration assay, consistent with previous data that reported a reduction of rigidity in red blood cells infected with PF3D7_1401600-deficient parasites. Finally, we found that PfEPF3 proteins bound to erythrocyte GAPDH, providing a potential link between Maurer’s clefts and the erythrocyte cytoskeleton early during infection.

Shakya, Bikash↗
DOE OSTI2019

Feature Design for Protein Interface Hotspots Using KFC2 and Rosetta

Protein–protein interactions regulate many essential biological processes and play an important role in health and disease. The process of experimentally characterizing protein residues that contribute the most to protein–protein interaction affinity and specificity is laborious. Thus, developing models that accurately characterize hotspots at protein–protein interfaces provides important information about how to inhibit therapeutically relevant protein–protein interactions. During the course of the ICERM WiSDM workshop 2017, we combined the KFC2a protein–protein interaction hotspot prediction features with Rosetta scoring function terms and interface filter metrics. A two-way and three-way forward selection strategy was employed to train support vector machine classifiers, as was a reverse feature elimination strategy. From these results, we identified subsets of KFC2a and Rosetta combined features that show improved performance over KFC2a features alone.

Seeger, Franziska↗
DOE OSTI2016

Puromycin induces SUMO and ubiquitin redistribution upon proteasome inhibition

We have previously reported the co-localization of O-propargyl-puromycin (OP-Puro) with SUMO-2/3 and ubiquitin at promyelocytic leukemia-nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor MG132, implying a role for the ubiquitin family in sequestering OP-puromycylated immature polypeptides to the nucleus during impaired proteasome activity. Here, we found that as expected puromycin induced SUMO-1/2/3 accumulation with ubiquitin at multiple nuclear foci in HeLa cells when co-exposed to MG132. Co-administration of puromycin and MG132 also facilitated redistribution of PML and the SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase RNF4 concurrently with SUMO-2/3. As removal of the drugs from the medium led to disappearance of the SUMO-2/3-ubiquitin nuclear foci, our findings indicated that nuclear assembly/disassembly of SUMO-2/3 and ubiquitin was pharmacologically manipulable, supporting our previous observation on OP-Puro, which predicted the ubiquitin family function in sequestrating aberrant proteins to the nucleus. -- Highlights: •Puromycin exhibits the O-propargyl-puromycin effect. •Puromycin induces SUMO redistribution upon proteasome inhibition. •Ubiquitin and RNF4 accumulate at PML-nuclear bodies with SUMO-2/3. •The ubiquitin family may function in nuclear sequestration of immature proteins.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

cGAS-like receptors sense RNA and control 3'2'-cGAMP signalling in Drosophila

Cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) is a cytosolic DNA sensor that produces the second messenger cG[2'–5']pA[3'–5']p (2'3'-cGAMP) and controls activation of innate immunity in mammalian cells. Animal genomes typically encode multiple proteins with predicted homology to cGAS, but the function of these uncharacterized enzymes is unknown. Here we show that cGAS-like receptors (cGLRs) are innate immune sensors that are capable of recognizing divergent molecular patterns and catalysing synthesis of distinct nucleotide second messenger signals. Crystal structures of human and insect cGLRs reveal a nucleotidyltransferase signalling core shared with cGAS and a diversified primary ligand-binding surface modified with notable insertions and deletions. We demonstrate that surface remodelling of cGLRs enables altered ligand specificity and used a forward biochemical screen to identify cGLR1 as a double-stranded RNA sensor in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. We show that RNA recognition activates Drosophila cGLR1 to synthesize the novel product cG[3'–5']pA[2'–5']p (3'2'-cGAMP). A crystal structure of Drosophila stimulator of interferon genes (dSTING) in complex with 3'2'-cGAMP explains selective isomer recognition, and 3'2'-cGAMP induces an enhanced antiviral state in vivo that protects from viral infection. Similar to radiation of Toll-like receptors in pathogen immunity, our results establish cGLRs as a diverse family of metazoan pattern recognition receptors.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Complete genome sequence of Halorhodospira halophila SL1

Halorhodospira halophila is among the most halophilic organisms known. It is an obligately photosynthetic and anaerobic purple sulfur bacterium that exhibits autotrophic growth up to saturated NaCl concentrations. The type strain H. halophila SL1 was isolated from a hypersaline lake in Oregon. Here we report the determination of its entire genome in a single contig. This is the first genome of a phototrophic extreme halophile. The genome consists of 2,678,452 bp, encoding 2493 predicted genes as determined by automated genome annotation. Of the 2407 predicted proteins, 1905 were assigned to a putative function. Future detailed analysis of this genome promises to yield insights into the halophilic adaptations of this organism, its ability for photoautotrophic growth under extreme conditions, and its characteristic sulfur metabolism.

phile↗
DOE OSTI2013

Genome sequence of Phaeobacter caeruleus type strain (DSM 24564T), a surface-associated member of the marine Roseobacter clade

In 2009 Phaeobacter caeruleus was described as a novel species affiliated with the marine Roseobacter clade, which, in turn, belongs to the class Alphaproteobacteria. The genus Phaeobacter is well known for members that produce various secondary metabolites. Here we report of putative quorum sensing systems, based on the finding of six N-acyl-homoserine lactone synthetases, and show that the blue color of P. caeruleus is probably due to the production of the secondary metabolite indigoidine. Therefore, P. caeruleus might have inhibitory effects on other bacteria. In this study the genome of the type strain DSM 24564T was sequenced, annotated and characterized. The 5,344,419 bp long genome with its seven plasmids contains 5,227 protein-coding genes (3,904 with a predicted function) and 108 RNA genes.

Alphaproteobacteria↗
DOE OSTI2022

Identification of Exported Plasmodium falciparum Proteins That Bind to the Erythrocyte Cytoskeleton

Plasmodium proteins are exported to the erythrocyte cytoplasm to create an environment that supports parasite replication. Although hundreds of proteins are predicted to be exported through Plasmodium export element (PEXEL)-dependent and -independent mechanisms, the functions of exported proteins are largely uncharacterized. In this study, we used a biochemical screening approach to identify putative exported P. falciparum proteins that bound to inside-out vesicles prepared from erythrocytes. Out of 69 P. falciparum PEXEL-motif proteins tested, 18 bound to inside-out vesicles (IOVs) in two or more independent assays. Using co-affinity purifications followed by mass spectrometry, pairwise co-purification experiments, and the split-luciferase assay, we identified 31 putative protein–protein interactions between erythrocyte cytoskeletal proteins and predicted exported P. falciparum proteins. We further showed that PF3D7_1401600 binds to the spectrin-binding domain of erythrocyte ankyrin via its MESA erythrocyte cytoskeleton binding (MEC) motif and to the N-terminal domains of ankyrin and 4.1R through a fragment that required an intact Plasmodium helical interspersed sub-telomeric (PHIST) domain. Introduction of PF3D7_1401600 into erythrocyte ghosts increased retention in the microsphiltration assay, consistent with previous data that reported a reduction of rigidity in red blood cells infected with PF3D7_1401600-deficient parasites.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Transforming our understanding of chloroplast-associated genes through comprehensive characterization of protein localizations and protein-protein interactions

Bioenergy crops are a renewable source of fuels and are a critical base for building a carbon-neutral economy. Rational engineering of bioenergy crops has the potential to enhance the yields. However, our ability to engineer plants is limited because the functions of most genes remain unknown. Systematic characterization of gene function in plants thus has the potential to greatly accelerate bioenergy research. Here, we focus on the chloroplast, an underexplored energy-producing organelle that is a hallmark of plants. The chloroplast is one of the promising targets of biofuel crop engineering efforts because of its central role in photosynthesis, metabolism, and intracellular signaling. However, the protein composition of the chloroplast and the functions of most of its proteins remain poorly characterized. At the core of this project, we sought to comprehensively determine the localization of chloroplast-associated proteins and generate a spatially defined protein-protein interaction network for chloroplast. For this purpose, we used the leading model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which greatly increased experimental speed and throughput. We illustrated the value of our findings to land plants by determining the localization of Arabidopsis thaliana land plant homologs of the Chlamydomonas proteins. Altogether, we were successful in determining the localization of 1,034 chloroplast-associated proteins in Chlamydomonas. The localizations provide numerous insights into the spatial organization of chloroplasts and how they function to support photosynthesis. The localization patterns of distinct proteins revealed new chloroplast structures and revealed new spatial organization inside the chloroplast. We also identified new components of known chloroplast structures, such as the chloroplast envelope, nucleoid, plastoglobuli, and pyrenoid. We identified these new components by investigating the interacting partners of known proteins. Many proteins localized in both the chloroplast and other cellular structures, thereby hinting at new functions and communication between cellular structures. We also applied machine learning on the atlas to generate predictions for the location of all of the proteins in Chlamydomonas. This enabled us to assign putative functions to many uncharacterized proteins based on their cellular location. Altogether, this research establishes a rich resource that opens new avenues of investigation and guides future work in deciphering and manipulating chloroplast function. Next, we developed an extensive protein-protein interaction network for the chloroplast by performing affinity purification-mass spectrometry on ~1,150 tagged chloroplast-associated proteins, the first such large-scale study in any photosynthetic organism. This dataset reveals 4,694 high-confidence protein-protein interactions, offering insights into the functions of thousands of conserved poorly-characterized chloroplast proteins. This systematic identification of protein-protein interactions in the chloroplast also provides multiple exciting new research directions and a detailed blueprint of the chloroplast's operation. This research lays the groundwork to decipher the inner workings of the chloroplast, the cell structure at the heart of photosynthesis. The spatial atlas and protein-protein interactions reveal chloroplast organizational features that would not have been accessible with traditional approaches. The localization mapping, insights into the function, and research materials generated further provide a rich resource for the research community to advance the understanding of how the chloroplast is organized to enable engineering of enhanced photosynthetic organisms.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Birth of protein folds and functions in the virome

The rapid evolution of viruses generates proteins that are essential for infectivity and replication but with unknown functions, due to extreme sequence divergence. Here, using a database of 67,715 newly predicted protein structures from 4,463 eukaryotic viral species, we found that 62% of viral proteins are structurally distinct and lack homologues in the AlphaFold database. Among the remaining 38% of viral proteins, many have non-viral structural analogues that revealed surprising similarities between human pathogens and their eukaryotic hosts. Structural comparisons suggested putative functions for up to 25% of unannotated viral proteins, including those with roles in the evasion of innate immunity. In particular, RNA ligase T-like phosphodiesterases were found to resemble phage-encoded proteins that hydrolyse the host immune-activating cyclic dinucleotides 3',3'- and 2',3'-cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP). Experimental analysis showed that RNA ligase T homologues encoded by avian poxviruses similarly hydrolyse cGAMP, showing that RNA ligase T-mediated targeting of cGAMP is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of immune evasion that is present in both bacteriophage and eukaryotic viruses. Together, the viral protein structural database and analyses presented here afford new opportunities to identify mechanisms of virus–host interactions that are common across the virome.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Automated genomic context analysis and experimental validation platform for discovery of prokaryote transcriptional regulator functions

The clustering of genes in a pathway and the co-location of functionally related genes is widely recognized in prokaryotes. We used these characteristics to predict the metabolic involvement for a Transcriptional Regulator (TR) of unknown function, identified and confirmed its biological activity. A software tool that identifies the genes encoded within a defined genomic neighborhood for the subject TR and its homologs was developed. The output lists of genes in the genetic neighborhoods, their annotated functions, the reactants/products, and identifies the metabolic pathway in which the encoded-proteins function. When a set of TRs of known function was analyzed, we observed that their homologs frequently had conserved genomic neighborhoods that co-located the metabolically related genes regulated by the subject TR. We postulate that TR effectors are metabolites in the identified pathways; indeed the known effectors were present. We analyzed Bxe_B3018 from Burkholderia xenovorans , a TR of unknown function and predicted that this TR was related to the glycine, threonine and serine degradation. We tested the binding of metabolites in these pathways and for those that bound, their ability to modulate TR binding to its specific DNA operator sequence. Using rtPCR, we confirmed that methylglyoxal was an effector of Bxe_3018.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

MbnH is a diheme MauG-like protein associated with microbial copper homeostasis

Methanobactins (Mbns) are ribosomally-produced, post-translationally modified peptidic copper-binding natural products produced under conditions of copper limitation. Genes encoding Mbn biosynthetic and transport proteins have been identified in a wide variety of bacteria, indicating a broader role for Mbns in bacterial metal homeostasis. Many of the genes in the Mbn operons have been assigned functions, but two genes usually present, mbnP and mbnH, encode uncharacterized proteins predicted to reside in the periplasm. MbnH belongs to the bacterial diheme cytochrome c peroxidase (bCcP)/MauG protein family, and MbnP contains no domains of known function. Here, we performed a detailed bioinformatic analysis of both proteins and have biochemically characterized MbnH from Methylosinus (Ms.) trichosporium OB3b. We note that the mbnH and mbnP genes typically co-occur and are located proximal to genes associated with microbial copper homeostasis. Our bioinformatics analysis also revealed that the bCcP/MauG family is significantly more diverse than originally appreciated, and that MbnH is most closely related to the MauG subfamily. A 2.6 Å resolution structure of Ms. trichosporium OB3b MbnH combined with spectroscopic data and peroxidase activity assays provided evidence that MbnH indeed more closely resembles MauG than bCcPs, although its redox properties are significantly different from those of MauG. The overall similarity of MbnH to MauG suggests that MbnH could post-translationally modify a macromolecule, such as internalized CuMbn or its uncharacterized partner protein, MbnP. Our results indicate that MbnH is a MauG-like diheme protein that is likely involved in microbial copper homeostasis and represents a new family within the bCcP/MauG superfamily.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Crowdsourcing biocuration: The Community Assessment of Community Annotation with Ontologies (CACAO)

Experimental data about gene functions curated from the primary literature have enormous value for research scientists in understanding biology. Using the Gene Ontology (GO), manual curation by experts has provided an important resource for studying gene function, especially within model organisms. Unprecedented expansion of the scientific literature and validation of the predicted proteins have increased both data value and the challenges of keeping pace. Capturing literature-based functional annotations is limited by the ability of biocurators to handle the massive and rapidly growing scientific literature. Within the community-oriented wiki framework for GO annotation called the Gene Ontology Normal Usage Tracking System (GONUTS), we describe an approach to expand biocuration through crowdsourcing with undergraduates. This multiplies the number of high-quality annotations in international databases, enriches our coverage of the literature on normal gene function, and pushes the field in new directions. From an intercollegiate competition judged by experienced biocurators, Community Assessment of Community Annotation with Ontologies (CACAO), we have contributed nearly 5,000 literature-based annotations. Many of those annotations are to organisms not currently well-represented within GO. Over a 10-year history, our community contributors have spurred changes to the ontology not traditionally covered by professional biocurators. The CACAO principle of relying on community members to participate in and shape the future of biocuration in GO is a powerful and scalable model used to promote the scientific enterprise. It also provides undergraduate students with a unique and enriching introduction to critical reading of primary literature and acquisition of marketable skills.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗