title: Measures for interoperability of phenotypic data: minimum information requirements and formatting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Plant phenotypic data shrouds a wealth of information which, when accurately analysed and linked to other data types, brings to light the knowledge about the mechanisms of life. As phenotyping is a field of research comprising manifold, diverse and time-consuming experiments, the findings can be fostered by reusing and combining existing datasets. Their correct interpretation, and thus replicability, comparability and interoperability, is possible provided that the collected observations are equipped with an adequate set of metadata. So far there have been no common standards governing phenotypic data description, which hampered data exchange and reuse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this paper we propose the guidelines for proper handling of the information about plant phenotyping experiments, in terms of both the recommended content of the description and its formatting. We provide a document called "Minimum Information About a Plant Phenotyping Experiment", which specifies what information about each experiment should be given, and a Phenotyping Configuration for the ISA-Tab format, which allows to practically organise this information within a dataset. We provide examples of ISA-Tab-formatted phenotypic data, and a general description of a few systems where the recommendations have been implemented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acceptance of the rules described in this paper by the plant phenotyping community will help to achieve findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Strzeszyńska 34, 60-479 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ćwiek-Kupczyńska
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Altmann
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arend
authors.affiliation: Bioversity International, parc Scientifique Agropolis II, 34397 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arnaud
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Dijun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR1164 URGI - Research Unit in Genomics-Info, INRA de Versailles-Grignon, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornut
authors.affiliation: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IBG-2 Plant Sciences, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fiorani
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Strzeszyńska 34, 60-479 Poznań, Poland ; Institute of Computing Science, Poznań University of Technology, ul. Piotrowo 3a, 60-479 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Frohmberg
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Junker
authors.affiliation: LemnaTec GmbH, Pascalstraße 59, 52076 Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klukas
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center Affiliated to the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Jana Pawła II 10, 61-139 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Cezary
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mazurek
authors.affiliation: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IBG-2 Plant Sciences, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Anahita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nafissi
authors.affiliation: UMR MISTEA, INRA SupAgro, Place Pierre Viala 2, 34060 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neveu
authors.affiliation: Keygene N.V., Agro Business Park 90, 6708 PW Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Oeveren
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR1164 URGI - Research Unit in Genomics-Info, INRA de Versailles-Grignon, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pommier
authors.affiliation: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IBG-2 Plant Sciences, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poorter
authors.affiliation: Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford, 7 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG UK.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rocca-Serra
authors.affiliation: Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford, 7 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QG UK.
authors.forename: Susanna-Assunta
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.affiliation: Keygene N.V., Agro Business Park 90, 6708 PW Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Schriek
authors.affiliation: Gregor Mendel Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ümit
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Seren
authors.affiliation: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IBG-2 Plant Sciences, 52425 Jülich, Germany ; Institute of Biology I, BioSC, RWTH Aachen, Worringer Weg 3, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Usadel
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), OT Gatersleben, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weise
authors.affiliation: The European Molecular Biology Laboratory-The European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SD UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kersey
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Strzeszyńska 34, 60-479 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Krajewski
keywords: Data standardisation and formatting; Experiment description; Experimental metadata; Minimum information recommendations; Plant phenotyping