This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 564, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison
what is gene ontology?
Gene Ontology (GO) is a bioinformatics initiative to standardize the representation of genes and gene products (such as the TUB protein) across databases. This is accomplished by providing a controlled vocabulary of terms to refer to gene products, processes, function, and cellular components. The GO project has developed three of these controlled vocabularies (called ontologies) that describe a gene product's molecular functions, biological processes, and cellular components. The molecular functions describe activities such as catalytic or binding activities that occur at a molecular level. The biological processes then refer to a series of events carried out by one or more of the molecular functions. For example, TUB has a biological process of responding to hormones which is dependent on its protein binding molecular function. The cellular component refers to where within a cell the given gene product has been found. While the creation of a common language in itself is useful to scientists, GO's utility continues to grow as researchers can now search for gene products with a similar cellular localization or biological process as their gene of interest. TUB's GO ontology terms are shown in figures below. [1]
TUB Biological Processes
multicellular organismal macromolecule metabolic process (GO:0044259)
phagocytosis (GO:0006909)
phototransduction (GO:0007602)
positive regulation of phagocytosis (GO:0050766)
response to hormone (GO:0009725)
retina development in camera-type eye (GO:0060041)
sensory perception of sound (GO:0007605)
phagocytosis (GO:0006909)
phototransduction (GO:0007602)
positive regulation of phagocytosis (GO:0050766)
response to hormone (GO:0009725)
retina development in camera-type eye (GO:0060041)
sensory perception of sound (GO:0007605)
TUB Cellular Components
cytoplasm (GO:0005737)
cytosol (GO:0005829)
extracellular region (GO:0005576)
intracellular membrane-bounded organelle (GO:0043231)
nucleus (GO:0005634)
plasma membrane (GO:0005886)
cytosol (GO:0005829)
extracellular region (GO:0005576)
intracellular membrane-bounded organelle (GO:0043231)
nucleus (GO:0005634)
plasma membrane (GO:0005886)
TUB molecular function
Analysis of TUB gene ontology
TUB's cellular localizations, molecular function, and biological processes support its potential function as an intracellular signaling protein that may act as a transcription factor to directly influence gene expression. These GO terms are also consistent with the TUB protein pathway hypotheses discussed on this site. The great variety of biological processes warrants further study as well to determine whether these processes function in all of the tubby phenotypes (vision, hearing, and obesity) or whether different biological mechanisms are used to regulate these different phenotypes.
references
Cover Photo Credit
[1] The Gene Ontology. An Introduction to the Gene Ontology. Accessed 2 March 2014.
[1] The Gene Ontology. An Introduction to the Gene Ontology. Accessed 2 March 2014.
Site created by Rachael Baird.
Genetics 564 Assignment, Spring 2014
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Last Updated: 5-9-14
Genetics 564 Assignment, Spring 2014
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Last Updated: 5-9-14