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        <article-title>Representation of Protein Aggregates in an Ontological Framework</article-title>
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      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Lauren Wishnie​</string-name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Alexander Cox​</string-name>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Alexander Diehl ​</string-name>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <abstract>
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      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>Ontology</kwd>
        <kwd>protein</kwd>
        <kwd>protein aggregate</kwd>
        <kwd>macromolecules</kwd>
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      <p>The Protein Ontology is a valuable tool for the organization,
representation, and retrieval of data related to proteins and
protein-related entities. The Complex Portal organizes
macromolecular complexes, including those containing
proteins, from a number of model organisms. Together, these
two resources serve the scientific community by curating,
organizing, and representing proteins and protein complexes
and placing those entities in an ontological context. However,
there is a dearth of information between these two databases
pertaining to macromolecule and, more specifically, protein
aggregates, which are distinct from complexes. A
macromolecule aggregate has primary constituents that are
two or more macromolecules. Their compositions and
conformations can vary between instances, and they can
contain other constituents like small molecules or ions. A
protein aggregate, then, is a macromolecule aggregate whose
primary constituents are proteins, but can be configured in
various ways from instance to instance. Protein aggregates are
important in diverse biological processes and pathologies, the
most well-known of which are neurodegenerative diseases
such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. However, it is a
misconception that the presence of protein aggregates is
always pathological in nature; the immune response uses
antibody aggregates to detain pathogens and mark them for
destruction, and the clotting cascade in response to vascular
injury relies upon fibrinogen aggregation. Despite these
important functions of protein aggregation in biological
processes, there is no unified protein aggregate ontology.
Based on this, we propose the construction of a protein
aggregate ontology as an extension of the Protein Ontology,
which would allow for the generation of a framework to
organize and represent protein aggregates as a complement to
the representation of proteins and protein complexes in Protein
Ontology and the Complex Portal. We have performed
preliminary curation of terms for this protein aggregate
ontology, and are structuring the ontology using the Protege
ontology editor. The availability of a protein aggregate
ontology will support researchers in categorizing types of
protein aggregates, understanding both new and existing
processes of protein aggregation, as well as contextualizing
protein aggregates in relation to physiological and
pathological processes and disease. Thus, a protein aggregate
ontology will promote an understanding of how protein
aggregates fit structurally and functionally into the larger web
of biological molecules.</p>
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