synonyms

[Midori Harris]

Hi David,

I don't think there's any question that GO should have terms for both 
usages (assuming that both correspond to legitimate GO concepts). The 
issue is what to name the terms, and I favor solutions like your second 
alternative, in which we don't use the same string as the name of one term 
and a synonym of another.

m

On Tue, 6 Sep 2005, David Hill wrote:

> Hi Midori,
> 
> This does go beyond neurogenesis because we just discussed it about 
> myogenesis as well. The issue is that there are cases like neurogenesis 
> and myogenesis that are used in two ways in the community. One solution 
> to this would be to create terms for each. In the case of neurogenesis, 
> it would be to create a term "neurogeneis" that describes a 
> neurobiologists strict definition of the term. We would also use 
> neurogenesis as a synonym for a more global term describing the 
> formation of nervous tissue, a developmental biologist's view of the 
> term. Alternatively, we could have created two separate terms that both 
> have synonyms neurogenesis. What are people's thoughts on this?
> 
> David
> 
>  Midori Harris wrote:
> 
> >Hi,
> >
> >Jen has brought it to my attention that this comment (made on SF 1262241) 
> >should go to a wider audience, because neurogenesis is not the only term 
> >affected:
> >
> >I've never been keen on using the same string as both a term name and a
> >synonym (of any type/scope) for another term, because it gives a
> >misleading impression that the two GO terms have the same meaning (if they
> >did, they'd be merged). We've actively avoided doing it elsewhere in the
> >ontologies, so it would be good to do the same for development-related
> >terms.
> >
> >Admittedly, this is not in the synonym documentation, but it can easily be 
> >added. One permissible exception is where one term is obsolete; an 
> >obsolete term string may be used as a synonym for an 'active' term.
> >
> >Cheers
> >Midori
> >
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> David P. Hill, Ph.D.
> Senior Scientific Curator
> Gene Expression Database
> Gene Ontology Consortium
> Mouse Genome Informatics
> The Jackson Laboratory
> 600 Main Street
> Bar Harbor, ME 04609-1500
> tel:207-288-6430
> htpp://www.informatics.jax.org
> 
>