title: A unified anatomy ontology of the vertebrate skeletal system.
abstract: The skeleton is of fundamental importance in research in comparative vertebrate morphology, paleontology, biomechanics, developmental biology, and systematics. Motivated by research questions that require computational access to and comparative reasoning across the diverse skeletal phenotypes of vertebrates, we developed a module of anatomical concepts for the skeletal system, the Vertebrate Skeletal Anatomy Ontology (VSAO), to accommodate and unify the existing skeletal terminologies for the species-specific (mouse, the frog Xenopus, zebrafish) and multispecies (teleost, amphibian) vertebrate anatomy ontologies. Previous differences between these terminologies prevented even simple queries across databases pertaining to vertebrate morphology. This module of upper-level and specific skeletal terms currently includes 223 defined terms and 179 synonyms that integrate skeletal cells, tissues, biological processes, organs (skeletal elements such as bones and cartilages), and subdivisions of the skeletal system. The VSAO is designed to integrate with other ontologies, including the Common Anatomy Reference Ontology (CARO), Gene Ontology (GO), Uberon, and Cell Ontology (CL), and it is freely available to the community to be updated with additional terms required for research. Its structure accommodates anatomical variation among vertebrate species in development, structure, and composition. Annotation of diverse vertebrate phenotypes with this ontology will enable novel inquiries across the full spectrum of phenotypic diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA. wasila.dahdul@usd.edu
authors.forename: Wasila M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Dahdul
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Balhoff
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Blackburn
authors.forename: Alexander D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Diehl
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Haendel
authors.forename: Brian K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Hilmar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lapp
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lundberg
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Mungall
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ringwald
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Segerdell
authors.forename: Ceri E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Van Slyke
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Vickaryous
authors.forename: Monte
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Westerfield
authors.forename: Paula M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Mabee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology*