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Fig. 2 | BMC Microbiology

Fig. 2

From: Representing virus-host interactions and other multi-organism processes in the Gene Ontology

Fig. 2

The triad structure in the multi-organism process node. The design of the upper-level classes in the multi-organism process subtree loosely follows a common ‘triad’ pattern in which there is a general parent class with two subclasses each specific for either the host or symbiont perspective. For example, ‘acquisition of nutrients from other organism during symbiotic interaction’ (GO:0051816) has the subtypes ‘acquisition of nutrients from host’ (GO:0044002) and ‘acquisition of nutrients from symbiont’ (GO:0051850). Full triads are only created where both subclasses are relevant. Blue arrows denote part_of relationships between classes, and black arrows denote is_a relationships between classes. The Gene Ontology uses multiple axes of classification, reflecting the multiple, scientifically valid ways that biological entities can classified. Thus any GO class can have multiple is_a parents. Image taken from QuickGO [12]

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