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根本性的重要意义。鉴于诸多研究问题需要实现对多样脊椎动物骨骼表型的计算访问与比较推理，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论（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论中的骨骼术语体系。此前这些术语体系之间的差异，甚至导致无法开展针对脊椎动物形态学相关数据库的简单跨库查询。这套涵盖上层及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（骨骼元素如骨与软骨）以及骨骼系统的细分结构。本本体论旨在与其他本体论实现集成，包括通用解剖学参考本体论（Common Anatomy Reference Ontology, CARO）、基因本体论（Gene Ontology, GO）、Uberon以及细胞本体论（Cell Ontology, CL），并对科研社区免费开放，以便其可根据研究需求补充新增术语。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。使用该本体论对多样的脊椎动物表型进行注释，将能够支持针对表型多样性全谱系的创新性研究探索。