XSPAN — A Cross-Species Anatomy Network

Summary

XSPAN¹, a cross-species anatomy network, is a web-based service that aims to provide a user with information linking tissues in the anatomical ontologies of the main model species. XSPAN incorporates a database that includes the standard anatomy ontologies for mouse, Drosophila and human development, and adult anatomy ontologies for Drosophila and C elegans, together with mappings of their tissues to cell types from the associated celltype ontology. It also includes further mappings that link tissues in different species on the basis of developmental lineage and functional analogy.

Mappings were either authored by domain experts or derived on the basis of other information, such as common cell-types or the lexical and structural properties of the underlying ontologies. Cross-ontology mappings were formalised in OWL files using COBrA, a newly developed bio-ontologies editor. In support of curating derived mappings, an argumentation systems approach has been explored.

The XSPAN graphical interface allows a user to select a tissue in one model species and inquire as to (1) its cell types and (2) whether there are tissues in other species to which it has a formal mapping. The system also allows the user to make a “smart” search of PubMed to find any recent papers about that tissue. Computational access to the ontologies and the mappings are provided via a web service interface.