Panel design

Functionality Panels

Functionality panels are designed to capture the presence of specific biological processes. The panels consist of a number of genes that together operate to accomplish a certain biological function. This can be a metabolic pathway in which a substrate is converted in subsequent steps to a defined metabolic end product. But panels can also represent more general response such as e.g. the stringent response where the genes are not necessarily metabolically related. These panels are designed as follows:

Database input

We use a number of databases to collect functional information on genes. These include WikiPathways, KEGG, COG.

Text mining

We additionally use text mining to add any genes that are not yet in the canonical databases.

Expert curation

We use expert curation to create non-redundant, trustworthy modules.

Reference genome filtering

The modules are after completion, mapped back to a set of reference genomes belonging to a specific biological niche, such as the gut, the skin, the oral cavity etc.