Gene ologs: a categorical framework for Gene Ontology

Abstract: Gene Ontology (GO) is the most important resource for gene function annotation. It provides a way to unify biological knowledge across different species via a dynamic and controlled vocabulary. GO is now widely represented in the Semantic Web standard Web Ontology Language (OWL). OWL renders a rich logic constructs to GO but also has its limitations. On the other hand, olog is a different language for ontology and it is based on category theory. Due to its solid mathematical background, olog can be rigorously formulated yet considerably expressive. These advantages make ologs complementary, if not better than, OWL. We therefore think it worthwhile to adopt ologs for GO and took an initial step in this work.