Dictyostelium Phenotype Ontology

To improve consistency, dictyBase curators have developed an ontology consisting of controlled vocabulary terms to describe common Dictyostelium phenotypes. The phenotype ontology consists of two composite terms: (1) the anatomical part or the biological process changed in the mutant, and (2) a quality describing that modification. For example, a ‘delayed aggregation’ phenotype qualifies the ‘aggregation’ (biological process) as being ‘delayed’, or the ‘decreased spore size’ qualifies the ‘spore’ to be of ‘decreased size’.

Example terms of the Dictyostelium phenotype ontology

name: aberrant fruiting body morphology: "Deviation from the normal, usual, or expected morphology of the fruiting body."
name: increased myosin II assembly def: "Increase in extent, amount, or degree of assembly of myosin II."
name: aberrant F-actin organization def: "Deviation from the normal, usual, or expected events during actin filament organization."
name: development arrests at loose mound stage def: "Development cannot progress past the loose mound stage."
name: precocious sporulation def: "Early onset or faster progression through sporulation."
name: abolished cell-substrate adhesion def: "Complete inability for cell-substrate adhesion."
name: decreased chemotaxis to cAMP def: "Reduction in extent, amount, or degree of chemotaxis in response to cAMP."

The complete ontology can be browsed using EBI's ontology lookup service.