Ontology for the asexual development and anatomy of the colonial chordate Botryllus schlosseri.
Ontologies provide an important resource to integrate information. For developmental biology and comparative anatomy studies, ontologies of a species are used to formalize and annotate data that are related to anatomical structures, their lineage and timing of development. Here, we have constructed the first ontology for anatomy and asexual development (blastogenesis) of a bilaterian, the colonial tunicate Botryllus schlosseri. Tunicates, like Botryllus schlosseri, are non-vertebrates and the only chordate taxon species that reproduce both sexually and asexually. Their tadpole larval stage possesses structures characteristic of all chordates, i.e. a notochord, a dorsal neural tube, and gill slits. Larvae settle and metamorphose into individuals that are either solitary or colonial. The latter reproduce both sexually and asexually and these two reproductive modes lead to essentially the same adult body plan. The Botryllus schlosseri Ontology of Development and Anatomy (BODA) will facilitate the comparison between both types of development. BODA uses the rules defined by the Open Biomedical Ontologies Foundry. It is based on studies that investigate the anatomy, blastogenesis and regeneration of this organism. BODA features allow the users to easily search and identify anatomical structures in the colony, to define the developmental stage, and to follow the morphogenetic events of a tissue and/or organ of interest throughout asexual development. We invite the scientific community to use this resource as a reference for the anatomy and developmental ontology of B. schlosseri and encourage recommendations for updates and improvements.
Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Lucia
L
Manni
Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Fabio
F
Gasparini
Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Kouhoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
Kohji
K
Hotta
Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford, California, United States of America.
Katherine J
KJ
Ishizuka
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (University of Paris 06), Laboratoire de Biologie du Développement de Villefranche-sur-mer, Observatoire Océanographique, Villefranche-sur-mer, France.
Lorenzo
L
Ricci
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (University of Paris 06), Laboratoire de Biologie du Développement de Villefranche-sur-mer, Observatoire Océanographique, Villefranche-sur-mer, France.
Stefano
S
Tiozzo
Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford, California, United States of America.
Ayelet
A
Voskoboynik
Bioself Communication, Marseille, France.
Delphine
D
Dauga
D000818:Animals; D064229:Biological Ontologies; D019521:Body Patterning; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D012984:Software; D014561:Urochordata / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology*