| layout | id | title | contact | status | fail_mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rule |
GORULE:0000004 |
Reciprocal annotations for 'protein binding ; GO:0005515' |
Approved |
soft |
When annotating to terms that are descendants of protein binding, and when the curator can supply the accession of the interacting protein accession, it is essential that reciprocal annotations are available - i.e. if you say protein A binds protein B, then you need to also have the second annotation that states that protein B binds protein A.
This will be a soft QC; a script will make these inferences and it is up to each MOD to evaluate and include the inferences in their GAF/DB.
We use the term GO:0005515 and its children to represent instances of protein binding. If a gene G is annotated to this term, its function involves binding another protein. The partner protein is represented in the with/from field of the association, i.e. the 'evidence' is the partner protein. Annotation of gene G to a protein binding term requires that the partner protein also be annotated to a protein binding term, resulting in reciprocal protein binding annotations. Note that the specific protein binding term used for annotation does not have to be the same for each partner.
Note that this annotation rule predates the existence of annotation extensions (c16 in the GAF). It is more logical to specify the binding partner in c16, this would also allow cleaner separation of evidence from in-vivo activity, but for historic reasons the with/from field continues to be used.
Discussion is ongoing, refer to: geneontology/molecular_function_refactoring#29
For more information, see the binding guidelines on the GO wiki.