Data from: A unified anatomy ontology of the vertebrate skeletal system

The skeleton is of fundamental importance in research in comparative vertebrate morphology, paleontology, biomechanics, developmental biology, and systematics. Motivated by research questions that require computational access to and comparative reasoning across the diverse skeletal phenotypes of vertebrates, we developed a module of anatomical concepts for the skeletal system, the Vertebrate Skeletal Anatomy Ontology (VSAO), to accommodate and unify the existing skeletal terminologies for the species-specific (mouse, the frog Xenopus, zebrafish) and multispecies (teleost, amphibian) vertebrate anatomy ontologies. Previous differences between these terminologies prevented even simple queries across databases pertaining to vertebrate morphology. This module of upper-level and specific skeletal terms currently includes 223 defined terms and 179 synonyms that integrate skeletal cells, tissues, biological processes, organs (skeletal elements such as bones and cartilages), and subdivisions of the skeletal system. The VSAO is designed to integrate with other ontologies, including the Common Anatomy Reference Ontology (CARO), Gene Ontology (GO), Uberon, and Cell Ontology (CL) and is freely available to the community to be updated with additional terms required for research. Its structure accommodates anatomical variation among vertebrate species in development, structure, and composition. Annotation of diverse vertebrate phenotypes with this ontology will enable novel inquiries across the full spectrum of phenotypic diversity.

骨骼在比较脊椎动物形态学、古生物学、生物力学、发育生物学以及系统分类学的研究中具有核心重要性。为满足那些需要对多样化脊椎动物骨骼表型进行计算访问与跨物种比较推理的研究需求，我们开发了一套骨骼系统解剖学概念模块——脊椎动物骨骼解剖学本体（Vertebrate Skeletal Anatomy Ontology，VSAO），以适配并统一现有针对特定物种（小鼠、爪蟾属青蛙、斑马鱼）以及多物种（硬骨鱼、两栖动物）的脊椎动物解剖学本体中的骨骼术语体系。此前这些术语体系之间的差异，甚至阻碍了跨数据库开展与脊椎动物形态学相关的简单查询。这套涵盖顶层与具体骨骼术语的模块目前包含223个已定义术语与179个同义词，整合了骨骼细胞、组织、生物过程、器官（骨与软骨等骨骼元素）以及骨骼系统的细分结构。该本体（VSAO）旨在与其他本体进行整合，包括通用解剖学参考本体（Common Anatomy Reference Ontology，CARO）、基因本体（Gene Ontology，GO）、Uberon以及细胞本体（Cell Ontology，CL），并对科研社区开放，可根据研究需求更新新增术语。其结构可适配脊椎动物物种在发育、结构与组成层面的解剖学变异。利用该本体对多样化脊椎动物表型进行注释，将能够开展针对表型多样性全谱系的创新性研究。