This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, an Undergraduate course at UW-Madison

Gene Ontology

The Gene Ontology Consortium is a project to create a database that describes organisms in a common manner, allowing researchers to more easily compare data across species. This database is constantly being added to as current research is revealing new findings. Gene Ontology categorizes information to three different levels: molecular function, biological process, and cellular component. The following figures were created using AmiGO. I simply searched my gene/protein or interest and a list of related gene ontology terms was generated. From those terms, trees linking the terms were created. 

Biological Process

Skeletal system development, heart system development, kidney system development

gene ontology biological process

Cellular Component

basement membrane, extracellular space, microfibril

gene ontology cellular component

Molecular Function

calcium ion binding, extracellular matrix structural constituent, protein binding

gene ontology molecular function

Analysis

FBN1 created three simple non-linked trees, which is generally unusual. However, the terms that did appear were logical since Fibrillin-1 causes a disorder of connective tissue, affecting the skeletal system as well as other systems throughout the body. Many terms associated with the extracellular matrix appeared, which could be an area of more in depth study for future research. Lastly, if you look on the protein domain portion of this website you will notice that FBN1 contains many calcium binding domains as this was the first result for cellular component. 

References

(1) GO Consortium http://www.geneontology.org/
(2) AmiGO  http://amigo.geneontology.org/cgi-bin/amigo/go.cgi

Gabrielle Waclawik
[email protected]
May 13, 2010
www.gen677.weebly.com