ATOL: an ontology for livestock
Résumé
The development of ontology in biology is necessary to better organize and exploit the knowledge on the individual characteristics like his phenotype (result of the expression and regulation of the genome). The computerized data processing for the characterization of each phenotype highlights the need of standardized and explicit language, defining without ambiguity the traits used and referred by various users: geneticists, physiologists, biochemists, producers, archivists. This can be reached trough the structured collection of terms and concepts within an ontology built to meet the user’s needs: ATOL for ‘Animal Trait Ontology for Livestock’, has been specifically dedicated to the animals breeding (fish, poultry, mammals). However, this generic ontology of phenotypic traits provides characters whose aggregation can explain the components of the quantity and quality of cattle productions: meat, milk, effective nutritional and fertility, as well as those taken into account for the assessment of animal welfare. ATOL should help to annotate phenotypic databases in order to establish more precise genotype/phenotype relationships while considering environmental effect on phenotype using EOL (Environment Ontology for Livestock). Moreover ATOL might contribute to a systemic, predictive approach of animal performance and using the semantics tools an access to more relevant and precise information in document content.