Software Tools for Interoperable Taxonomic Databases

一个由7个生物信息学研究机构组成的合作团队提出，将改进现有的软件工具，以创建一个基于万维网的专家分类资源，该资源将立即对国际病毒学界产生价值，并将作为其他生物学科分类数据资源的原型。在先前资助的NSF项目的基础上，该团队将完成软件基础设施的开发，以提供对国际病毒分类委员会数据库（ICTVdB）的实时访问。这个分类学知识库将本地存储数据文件的优点与建立到分布式数据形式的动态链接的能力结合起来，并提供对文件的即时更新。用于分类学研究和生物多样性研究的DELTA程序套件的增强和修改将允许通过WWW对生物进行数据分析和鉴定。通过HTML和网络将ICTV数据与其他生物数据集连接起来，例如基因组数据、图形、存储库和参考数据，将使基于遗传和表型数据分析的分类比较成为可能。使用Web/Genera和Sybase软件使SQL查询和在线数据输入/更新能够通过Internet与DELTA互操作的关系数据库，这将为分类学家和其他研究人员提供多个访问点和数据管理功能，具体取决于他们的具体要求。拟议的数据资源将符合数据建模、语法和语义方面的规定标准，从而促进生物数据库开发人员新“联盟”的成员资格。它还将作为一种实用工具来增强复杂生物系统的建模。

A team of collaborators from seven bioinformatics research organizations proposes to enhance existing software tools to create a World Wide Web (WWW) based expert taxonomic resource that will be immediately valuable for the international virology community and will serve as a prototype for taxonomic data resources in other biological disciplines. Expanding on previously funded NSF project, the team will complete development of the software infrastructure for providing real time access to the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses' database (ICTVdB). This taxonomic knowledge base will combine the advantages of local, warehoused datafiles with the ability to establish dynamic links to distributed forms of data and will provide for immediate updating of the files. Enhancement and modification of the DELTA suite of programs, used for taxonomic research and biodiversity studies, will permit data analysis and identification of organisms via the WWW. Linking of ICTV data with other biological datasets, e.g., genomic data, graphics, repository, and reference data via HTML and the web will enable taxonomic comparisons based on genetic and phenotypic data analysis. Use of the Web/Genera and Sybase software to enable SQL queries and online data entry/updates over the Internet to a relational database interoperating with DELTA will give taxonomists and other researchers multiple access points and data management capabilities, depending on their specific requirements. The proposed data resource will conform to prescribed standards in data modeling, syntax and semantics, thus facilitating membership in the emerging "federation" of biological database developers. It will also serve as a utility to enhance modeling of complex biological systems.