TO/PO for annotating Citrus mutant collection

[Ana Conesa]

Dear sirs, 

We are developing a Citrus mutant tree database and we would like to use a
controlled vocabulary to describe phenotypes and phenotype values. We think
that the Trait and Plant Ontology could provide a good framework to do so.
However, there are a number of issues that are still not clear for us. I would
appreciate if you could provide us with some additional information. Our main
questions are:
As we are aiming to describe tree phenotypes, rather than annotating genes, we
would like to assign a numeric value to a given TO/PO term . For example, to
describe sugar content of the fruit , we would like to provide for each mutant
tree a representative value(ie., Sugar content=4.5). Can the TO/PO support
this type of annotations, are there examples of such a use?
As we work on Citrus, we expect there will be specific terms which will be
missing in the current Ontologies. Is there an easy, direct way for the user
to add new terms to the Ontology?. We are thinking now for our own use, not
for directly contribuiting to the Ontology development, although this could
be, of course, a interesting possibility.

Looking forward for your reply

We remain, 

Ana Conesa
Oscar Sánchez

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Ana Conesa, PhD.
Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA)
Carretera Moncada - Náquera, Km. 4,5
Apartado Oficial 46113- Moncada (Valencia)
SPAIN
email aconesa at ivia.es
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