spatial terms

Peter Stevens peter.stevens at mobot.org
Tue Mar 23 15:09:41 EST 2004


>I thought the general point of this whole operation was to have a 
>general onotology so that indeed different people can talk to one 
>another without needing a translator.  Our chaotic terminology is 
>one of the major taxonomic impediments, to say nothing of other 
>problems it causes..


Peter S.

>Colleagues,
>
>Leonore's question is very relevant ('how many genes are currently
>annotated to a specific internode?') for it cites the need to annotate
>genes to 'body parts' e.g. internodes. Pankaj's comments about rice leaf
>position (top down counting) & Toby's comments about 'sensu...' being
>cumbersome & the suggestion that "such numbering schemes fall into
>species-specific ontologies and therefore should be excluded from the
>general plant ontology." - and Sue's counter to the latter point. And
>Pankaj's comments: "I think this issue will keep coming up every now and
>then, because at Gramene we do not want to maintain two different
>ontology sets. I guess
>the same goes with TAIR and MaizeGDB. A generic one  from POC and
>species specific from our own databases. This is too much of work and
>was also the main reason why we wanted to have this project." All these
>perspectives point to our wrestling with how to incorporate the complex
>diversity of plant structure into a general/composite plant ontology. OK
>- nothing new here - but please consider the following contribution.
>
>This is an important discussion because it again points to the
>sophistication of the foundation upon which we are building the PO which
>in turn will probably determine the acceptance (or otherwise) of the PO
>controlled vocabulary by the plant science community. Having a single
>plant ontology which accommodates the needed diversity of plant
>structure for many taxa vs a simplified (consensus) ontology & separate
>species specific ontologies are two rather different paradigms. My
>understanding of the mandate of the POC is that it was focusing on the
>former & not the latter. Am I wrong? Why does it seem to be a stumbling
>block to include taxon-specific plant structure vocabulary (where
>needed) in our PO product? I look forward to discussing this matter
>further (at the May meeting - hopefully before then).
>
>- Leszek
>-------
>Optional reading: A little detail on the complexity of leaf position
>nomenclature for Zea mays:
>
>In maize (Zea mays a member of the grass family, Poaceae) there appear
>to be 2 'nomenclatures' that are used: 1. Juvenile leaves vs adult
>leaves  2. Leaf Number (L), counting the non-leaf coleoptile as zero and
>Plastochron Number (P), counting the established but predivision
>meristematic founder cells as zero (complex? rather!). Toby mentioned
>the first system in her earlier email.
>
>The second system may seem more tricky than the first BUT there's some
>counter-intuition in the first system. How? Well, the term "Juvenile
>leaves" has a distinct developmental tag in that juvenile leaves arise
>earlier and in a more basal position than the younger, more adult leaves
>(quoting from Freeling & Lane, Ch3 in The Maize Handbook). In MaizeGDB
>there are 10,708 ESTs associated with 'juvenile leaf' & 8,789 ESTs
>associated with adult tissue (incl. adult leaves). At present MaizeGDB
>is not using explicitly using a leaf number system, counting from the
>bottom up, but this is implicit in the use of juvenile & adult leaves.
>
>Using the L & P convention, L10, P3 would be referring to the tenth leaf
>above the coleoptile when the leaf is the third leaf from the meristem
>(a leaf at approx. 4 mm primordial devel. stage). There are a few
>publications using the L & P nomenclature but no use of it (YET) in
>MaizeGDB.
>
>*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
>P. Leszek D. Vincent Ph.D., FLS
>Plant Science Unit
>Dept. of Agronomy
>215 Curtis Hall
>University of Missouri-Columbia
>Columbia
>MO 65211-7020
>USA
>Ph: (573) 884-3716 (Agronomy); Fax:(573) 884-7850
>Email: Leszek at missouri.edu
>Plant Systematist on The Plant Ontology Consortium - NSF award 0321666
>Associate Curator, Dunn-Palmer Herbarium (UMO)
>Research Associate, Missouri Botanical Garden (MO), USA
>*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: owner-po-dev at brie4.cshl.org
>>  [mailto:owner-po-dev at brie4.cshl.org] On Behalf Of Roger Wise
>>  Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 3:27 PM
>>  To: po-dev at plantontology.org
>>  Subject: Re: spatial terms
>>
>>
>>  It seems to make sense to me to count from the bottom, because in
>>  many global expression studies, tissue is harvested, or dissected,
>>  before maturity.  It is also important to have these stages
>>  well-defined, possibly species specific, because, again, in global
>>  expression studies, hundreds of genes are differentially expressed
>>  between specific stages or tissues (including anthers from upper and
>>  lower florets).  At least for this particular application, and in the
>>  foreseeable future (eg. laser capture) more detail is better.  As for
>>  cultivar differences, this should be defined by stating the cultivar
>>  along with the definition.
>>
>>  Roger
>>
>>  At 2:05 PM -0500 3/22/04, Toby Kellogg wrote:
>>  >I think maize counts from the bottom.  so at a minimu we'd
>>  have to say
>>  >"internode 3 sensu maize" or "internode 3 sensu rice".   Seems pretty
>>  >cumbersome to me.  Leonore's question is probably the most
>>  relevant -
>>  >how many genes are currently annotated to a specific internode? Toby
>>  >
>>  >>Toby Kellogg wrote:
>>  >>>  I think we need to think hard about what will be gained
>>  or lost by
>>  >>>  including terms like first second third leaf.   The
>>  conventions on counting
>>  >>>  are different in different plants (e.g top down vs.
>>  bottom up), and
>>  >>> leaves  with the same number may or may not be comparable.  Even
>>  >>> among maize  inbreds there is variation in the number of leaves
>>  >>> before the  juvenile/adult transition and before flowering.  I'd
>>  >>> suggest that such  numbering schemes fall into species-specific
>>  >>> ontologies and therefore  should be excluded from the
>>  general plant
>>  >>> ontology.  Perhaps this is  something we should discuss
>>  at our May
>>  >>> meeting.  Toby
>>  >>>
>>  >>
>>  >>I agree with Leonore and Toby on how you count the numbers and how
>>  >>many numbers, based on the germplasm/variety/population
>>  type and the
>>  >>species. Looks like we need to comeup with a solution soon.
>>  I know in
>>  >>majority of the rice reports the counts are from the top, because
>>  >>often researchers do not see the 1st and 2nd internode/node.
>>  >>
>>  >>To make things simple we can always say that gene-x is expressed in
>>  >>internode. But then we loose the granularity we want to
>>  suggest to our
>>  >>user that look the gene is expressed in Second internode
>>  ONLY. This is
>>  >>different than assigning it to the generic term internode.
>>  >>
>>  >>I think this issue will keep coming up every now and then,
>>  because at
>>  >>Gramene we do not want to maintain two different ontology sets. I
>>  >>guess the same goes with TAIR and MaizeGDB. A generic one  from POC
>>  >>and species specific from our own databases. This is too
>>  much of work
>>  >>and was also the main reason why we wanted to have this project.
>>  >>
>>  >>Pankaj
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>  >>>
>>  >>>>Depends on how you are defining the first leaf- doesnt
>>  it. Counting
>>  >>>>from first leaf after the cotyledon (which may or may not
>>  be formed
>>  >>>>in the embryo prior to dessication)... Leonore
>>  >>>>
>>  >>>>On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Pankaj Jaiswal wrote:
>>  >>>>
>>  >>>>
>>  >>>>>Hi Everyone,
>>  >>>>>
>>  >>>>>I just now started working on the leaf section and
>>  encountered the
>>  >>>>>problem on how do we represent the spatial organization. Since
>>  >>>>>PATO/phenotype attribute ontology is way off from implementation
>>  >>>>>what are our rules on this.
>>  >>>>>
>>  >>>>>here are a few spatial attribute examples which I think are
>>  >>>>>necessary to describe a gene's transcript/protein expression
>>  >>>>>profile or a phenotype.
>>  >>>>>
>>  >>>>>
>>  >>>>>first
>>  >>>>>second
>>  >>>>>third
>>  >>>>>fourth
>>  >>>>>fifth
>>  >>>>>	e.g.
>>  >>>>>	first leaf
>>  >>>>>	second leaf
>>  >>>>>	first / second internode
>>  >>>>>	first / second node
>>  >>>>>basal
>>  >>>>>uppermost ; synonym:topmost
>>  >>>>>lower
>  > >>>>>upper
>>  >>>>>	e.g.
>>  >>>>>	basal / uppermost internodes
>>  >>>>>	topmost leaves
>>  >>>>>	lower floret
>>  >>>>>	upper floret
>>  >>>>>primary
>>  >>>>>secondary
>>  >>>>>	e.g.
>>  >>>>>	primary / secondary panicle branches
>>  >>>>>	spikelets of the primary branches
>>  >>>>>
>>  >>>>>
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >Elizabeth A. Kellogg
>>  >Department of Biology
>>  >University of Missouri-St. Louis
>>  >8001 Natural Bridge Road
>>  >St. Louis, MO 63121
>>  >phone: 314-516-6217
>>  >fax: 314-516-6233
>>  >http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscience/biology/Kellogg/Kellogg/
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  _____________________________
>>  Roger Wise, USDA-ARS
>>  Department of Plant Pathology
>>  411 Bessey Hall
>>  Iowa State University, Ames, IA
>>  50011-1020  USA
>>  Phone:  515-294-9756
>>  Fax:    515-294-9420
>>  E-mail: rpwise at iastate.edu
>>  _____________________________
>>  http://wiselab.org/
>>  http://barleybase.org/
>>  http://www.plantstress.iastate.edu/
>>
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