CURATION GUIDE

InnateDB Project Leader: David Lynn
Submission System Development: Calvin Chan
Curation Team: Carol Chen, Ana Sribnaia, Raymond Lo,
Previous Curation Team Members: Misbah Naseer, Melissa Yau, Giselle
Ring, Kathleen Wee

Previous Assistant Curators: Patrick Taylor, Tracee Wee, Tom Yang.

Further help and tips are available on the PI2 wiki
https://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/Curators_Group

Last Modified: July 19, 2011

Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... 2	  CHAPTER 1: A GUIDE TO THE INNATEDB SUBMISSION SYSTEM ...................................... 4	
  
1.1	
  

Logging In

4	
  

1.2	
  

Searching Interactions

5	
  

1.3	
  

Adding a New Interaction7	
  1.3.1 Interaction8	
  1.3.1.1 Interaction type .............................................................................................................. 8	
  1.3.1.2 Full name .................................................................................................................... 10	
  1.3.1.3 Comments ................................................................................................................... 10	
  1.3.2 Participant10	
  1.3.2.1 Molecule Type ............................................................................................................. 10	
  1.3.2.2 Species (Human & Mouse Only!) ................................................................................ 10	
  1.3.2.3 Molecule ...................................................................................................................... 11	
  1.3.2.4 Biological Role ............................................................................................................ 13	
  1.3.3 Evidence14	
  1.3.3.1 PubMed ID .................................................................................................................. 14	
  1.3.3.2 Interaction Detection Method ...................................................................................... 15	
  1.3.3.6 Host System and Host Organism ................................................................................ 16	
  1.3.3.7	
   Cell Status ................................................................................................................... 17	
  1.3.3.8	
   Cell Line ...................................................................................................................... 17	
  1.3.3.9	
   Cell Type ..................................................................................................................... 17	
  1.3.3.10 Tissue Type ............................................................................................................... 18	
  1.3.3.11 Subcellular localization .............................................................................................. 18	
  1.3.3.12 Participant Identification Method and Experimental Role .......................................... 20	
  1.3.3.13 Accession Number .................................................................................................... 23	
  1.3.3.14 Comments ................................................................................................................. 23	
  

1.4	
  

Editing an Interaction
1.4.1	
   Editing a Curated Interaction
1.4.2	
   Editing a Public Interaction

25	
  
25	
  
26	
  

1.5	
  

Deleting an interaction
1.5.1 Deleting a Curated interaction
1.5.2	
   Deleting a Public interaction

27	
  
28	
  
28	
  

1.6	
  

Annotating Innate Immune Genes
1.6.1	
   Adding annotation for a gene
1.6.2	
   Editing/Deleting an annotation

29	
  
30	
  
32	
  

CHAPTER 2: CURATION RELATED ISSUES .......................................................................... 35	
  
2.1	
  

Confirming Species

35	
  

2.2	
  

Recording Subcellular Localization for a Gene

35	
  

2.3	
  

36	
  
36	
  

Using Pathogenomics Wiki Site
2.3.1 Guidelines for submitting interactions

2

37	
  
38	
  
39	
  

2.3.2 Track Curation Progress
2.3.3 Record immune genes and their function
2.3.4 Curation Tips

CHAPTER 3: IMEX CURATIONS BY INNATEDB .................................................................... 39	
  
3.1	
  

The International Molecular Exchange Consortium

39	
  

3.2	
  

Curating for IMEx
3.2.1 PMID
3.2.2 Experiment(s)3.2.3 Interaction(s)3.2.4 Participants

39	
  
40	
  
40	
  
41	
  
41	
  

3.3	
  

Useful Links
3.3.1 IMEx
3.3.2 IntAct
3.3.3 Cross References

42	
  
42	
  
42	
  
43	
  

3

Chapter 1: A Guide To The InnateDB Submission System
http://www.innatedb.com/dashboard/

1.1

Logging In
A user email address and password are required to access the submission system.

First Page allows users to view & review submitted interactions:

4

1.2

Searching Interactions
The submission system allows users to search single or multiple criteria at a time.
Searchable fields include:• PubMed ID• Interaction Name
• Interaction Type• Participant Molecule• Interaction Detection Method• Evidence Comments• Submission Status• Submitter

To add multiple search criteria, click the “+” icon. The user can search for interactions matching
all criteria or any of the criteria selected. To take out a search criteria, click on the “-“ icon.

Click the “Search” button after entering the search criteria. For example, if participant molecule=IRAK1, the following search results are shown:5Results are categorized into:-“Curated interactions” which refer to interactions manually curated by the InnateDB
team-“Public Interactions” which refer to all interactions displayed on the main public site(www.innatedb.com)

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1.3

Adding a New Interaction
Click “Add Interaction” in the top right-hand corner of page to begin submitting a newinteraction.

The submission page is broken into 3 main sections – Interaction, Participant & Evidence.

THE PSI-MI Controlled Vocabulary (CV) is a hierarchical ontology of terms used to describe
molecular interactions.
It can be browsed here http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ontology-lookup/browse.do?ontName=MI
If a required term does not exist in the CV - it can be requested here
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=511101&group_id=65472&func=browse
The PSI MI format is a data exchange format for molecular interactions.
Details of the XML Schema etc can be found here http://www.psidev.info/index.php?q=node/60
A PSI 2.5 XML validator can be found here http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact/validator/start.xhtml

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1.3.1 Interaction
1.3.1.1 Interaction type

Select the appropriate interaction type from the list.
“Physical Association” is the most general term used to describe an interaction and should
only be used when no other information is available (This is frequently the case).
“Direct Interaction” is the term used to describe an experiment in which the number ofinteractors equals 2 highly purified molecules and the interaction occurs in vitro, such that nohost proteins may interfere.
For biochemical reactions, such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination, cleavage etc, click:“Physical Association”. A search window will pop-up. The user may either manually enter theterm in the search box or click on the arrow beside physical association and expand to directinteraction >enzymatic reaction.

From the list of enzymatic reactions, select the appropriate term for the interaction.

8

Commonly used enzymatic reactions are:- cleavage reaction- phosphorylation reaction- dephosphorylation reaction- ubiquitination reaction“Complex Assembly” This should no longer be used as it is not a valid PSI MI term. Use
Physical Association instead.
“Transcriptional Regulation” – remember we only describe direct, experimentally validated
interactions in InnateDB. Experiments where a gene up/down regulates another gene should
not be entered unless a direct interaction has been confirmed i.e. a Transcription Factor isshown to bind the promoter region of gene (via ChIP or EMSA) and up/down regulation isobserved in an assay e.g. luciferase assay. When both physical interaction and gene regulation
are experimentally proven, select “transcriptional regulation” as interaction type. The physicalinteraction evidence is described in the evidence section for the interaction with thetranscriptional regulation assay is described in the comments.
If no up/down regulation
observed then the interaction type is just “Physical Association”.
“Translational Regulation” – rarely used. See “Transcriptional Regulation”. Example
interaction of RNA x with gene y leads to increased/decreased translation of protein. Examplesof this are very rare.

91.3.1.2 Full name
Provide one sentence describing the interaction between the interactors and any specificconditions applying to the interaction. The format of the sentence should agree with theinteraction type selected e.g. IRAK4 phosphorylates IRAK1; TLR4 physically associates with
LY96; ITCH autoubiquitinates itself in the presence of UBE2L3; IL1 stimulation leads to thecomplex formation of IRAK1, TRAF6 and MAP3K3. Use HGNC (HUGO Gene Nomenclature
Committee) symbols for human participants (UPPER CASE) and Mouse Genome Informatics(MGI) symbols (Title case) for mouse participants.
1.3.1.3 Comments
If information applicable to all possible evidences is available, record it in the comments fielde.g. a common name for a complex etc. Usually this can be left blank.

1.3.2 Participant

If there are > 2 participants in an interaction click “add new participant”. This can be done as
many times as required.
1.3.2.1 Molecule Type
Select the correct molecule type of the participant from the list (Protein, DNA, RNA). The default
selection is Protein. Different participants may have different molecule types e.g. a protein (e.g.
transcription factor) may interact with a gene.
Note: the ability to describe interactions between a complex and another molecule type will be
added later in InnateDB development.
1.3.2.2 Species (Human & Mouse Only!)Select the species of the participant from the list provided. InnateDB only includes interactions
involving human/mouse molecules. The different participants may be of different species e.g. anexperiment that shows a human protein interacts with a mouse protein. If no information about
10species can be gathered from the paper and references, contact the author of the paper toensure the species.
1.3.2.3 Molecule
Click “select” button. Enter the symbol for the participant in the text field and hit the ENTER key.
Note: Often genes are more commonly known by another name (synonym) so you will need towatch out for this and ensure you are entering the correct name. If a synonym is entered (e.g.
MEKK3), the search will provide HGNC symbol for gene(s) with the entered synonym (e.g.
MAP3K3).

11

Special case 1: If a HGNC symbol has not been assigned to a gene, search the gene andselect the InnateDB molecule ID associated with the gene.

Special case 2: Sometimes 2 HGNC IDs are assigned to the same InnateDB gene. If thishappens, discuss with project leader for further action.

Special case 3: Since 2009, ENSEMBL has included nine haplotypic regions, mainly in the
MHC region of chromosome 6 in its gene database. Consequently, searches for a gene may
generate several results with identical HGNC IDs but different InnateDB molecule IDs.
If this happens, search the gene on the main site (www.innatedb.com). Note the InnateDB
molecule ID of the gene which is located on Chromosome 6 (not the MHC regions). Use thismolecule ID for submitting interactions for the gene.

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1.3.2.4 Biological Role
Select an appropriate term for the biological role for the interactor in context of the interaction
e.g. unspecified for physical interactions, enzyme and enzyme target for phosphorylation,ubiquitination, dephosphorylation etc.

13

1.3.3 Evidence

Multiple evidences are possible for an interaction; either from the same PubMed ID where
different experiments prove the same interaction or where two or more papers describe
evidence of an interaction. Click “+ add new evidence” to add additional evidence either with thesame PubMed ID or with a different one.

1.3.3.1 PubMed ID
Enter the PubMed ID (PMID) for the publication in which the interaction and its evidence is
described. The search box will display the abstract for the entered PMID. Ensure that thecorrect paper is retrieved.
141.3.3.2 Interaction Detection Method
This is the experimental method used to detect the interaction, usually the basis for evidence ofaninteraction.
Interaction
detection
methodterms
arecontrolled
PSI
MI(http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ontology-lookup/browse.do?ontName=MI)
terms
for
MolecularInteractions. These terms are searchable by typing a term (or part of a term) into the box andhitting the ENTER key. Once search terms are entered, a selection of controlled vocabularyterms appear in a drop down menu, select the interaction term which best fits the experiment
performed.

Alternatively, different PSI MI terms listed in the search menu can be expanded until theappropriate term is found.

15

Following are some PSI MI terms used for common detection methods:- coimmunopercipiation/ anti-tag coimmunoprecipitation: coimmunoprecipitation- protease assay: cleavage reactions- enzymatic study: luciferase assay, ubiquitination/conjugation assay- protein kinase assay/ in-gel kinase assay: phosphorylation reaction- phosphatase assay: dephosphorylation reaction- pull down: GST pull down assay
1.3.3.6 Host System and Host Organism

Host System:
In Vitro – experiments performed in a cell-free system; also used for experiments involving
immortalized and commercially sold cell lines.
In Vivo – experiments performed in an organism or with cells extracted from an organism whichhave not been subject to any treatment.
Ex Vivo – experiments performed on cells extracted from a living organism that have been
subjected to some form of treatment e.g. TNF, LPS stimulation , also cells derived/cultured fromliving cells e.g. monocytes cultured from PBMCs.
16

Unspecified – Experiments performed in a foreign system such as yeast two hybrid
experiment.
Host Organism:
The host system is the species where the interaction was shown to take place. This is NOT to
be confused with the species of the participant molecules (human and mouse only). For
example yeast two-hybrid would be “yeast” and HEK293 cells would be “human”. This is asearchable field with controlled vocabulary (NCBI Taxonomy homepage:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/), thus the host system species must be selected fromthe drop menu of controlled vocabulary which appears in the search box. Any species can be
added here e.g. African green monkey, yeast. Sometimes there are several possible options for
a common name – make sure you choose the correct species based on the scientific name.

1.3.3.7 Cell Status
Primary - Cells were taken directly from a living organism, which is not immortalized. Cells may
be cultured following isolation e.g. monocytes derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs), bone-marrow derived macrophages
Cell-line - Cells which are grown under controlled conditions e.g. HeLa.
Unspecified - when primary cells or cell line were not used or not indicated in the experiment.

1.3.3.8 Cell LineEnter the name of the cell line in which the interaction was found to occur. Where possible use
the ATCC cell line names found at http://www.atcc.org/. Other details such as what cell type,tissue and species a cell line is derived from can also be looked up here. See
https://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/Curators_Group for cell line details that havealready been looked up and for information about standards used to classify a cell line not listedon the page.
Example: Caco 2: cell type: epithelial cell; Tissue type: colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line;
Homo sapiens
1.3.3.9 Cell TypeEnter the distinct morphological or functional form of cell e.g. macrophage, epithelial etc. Cellline names should not be entered here. The cell type of a cell line should be entered. Cell type
terms are OBO controlled terms and can be searched similarly to interaction detection method.
17

1.3.3.10 Tissue TypeThe tissue in which the cells were derived from e.g. lung, heart, brain etc. Tissue terms are
OBO controlled terms and can be searched similarly to interaction detection method.
ExampleTo determine the cell type, tissue type and species of the cell line, search the ATCC cultures tofind most of the cell line descriptions.
For example if a paper mentions SW480 cells:

Hence, the following information will be entered:
Cell line: SW480
Cell type: epithelial cell
Tissue type: colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line
1.3.3.11 Subcellular localization
If specified, this is where the location within the cell in which the interaction is observed andNOT the subcellular localization of where a protein is normally located. When inputting
subcellular localization, only controlled terms are allowed and thus this is a searchable field.
Once search terms are entered, a selection of controlled vocabulary terms appear in the searchwindow, select the term which best fits the subcellular localization. Alternatively, the given list in
the search box can be expanded to the appropriate term.
18

19

1.3.3.12 Participant Identification Method and Experimental Role
The method used to identify or determine the participant in the interaction detection experimentis entered in this field. The participant identification method is usually found in the Materials andMethods sections of papers describing interactions and there may more than one used. If morethan one method is used, add the one which is more specific in identifying the participant.

Experimental Role explains the role of each interaction participant in the experimentdemonstrating the interaction.

20

bait – The participant was used as a “bait” to find the other participant(s). For example, in a
GST pulldown experiment, the GST fusion protein is the bait since it is used to detect otherinteracting proteins. This is usually the stationary/immobilized participant.
prey – The participant that interacts with the bait; the interactor that is detected because of its
interaction with the bait.
ancillary – This is the participant(s) in a complex which links other components of a complex
together.
neutral component – An interaction participant that has a neutral role in the interaction; forexample in a non-screening yeast two hybrid, neither component is the bait or prey, but instead
come together to demonstrate an interaction.
suppressor gene – The gene which suppresses another gene.
suppressed gene – The gene which is suppressed by a suppressor gene.
fluorescence donor – In experiments where fluorescence energy transfer is used (such as inFRET), this is the participant which is the source of fluorescence energy.
fluorescence acceptor – In experiments where fluorescence energy transfer is used (such asin FRET), this is the participant which receives fluorescence energy from the fluorescence
donor.
fluorescence acceptor donor pair – Comprised of a fluorescence acceptor and donor.
self – When there is only one participant i.e. an interaction with itself (dimer formation, autophosphorylation).
unspecified role – Used when the role of the participant is unknown. This option is rarely used.

21

In general, there are many methods which may be used in an article to detect the participant in
the interaction, however here are some common ones:
Interaction Detection
MethodYeast two hybrid

•

Bait

Plasmid verified by nucleotide sequencing

Coimmunoprecipitation

•
•

Prey
Bait

Positive clones verified by nucleotide sequencing- Western blot (mono/polyclonal if specified) or- Plasmid was verified by nucleotide sequencing

•
•

Prey
Bait

Western blot (mono/polyclonal if specified)Western blot (mono/polyclonal if specified) or tag
western blot

•

Prey

•

Bait

- Anti tag western blot or- Western blot (mono/polyclonal if specified)
Predetermined participant

•

Prey

•

NeutralComponent•

NeutralComponent
NeutralComponent

Anti Tag
Coimmunoprecipitation

Pull down

Chromatin
Immunopercipitation
AssaysElectrophoretic Mobility
Shift Assay

Expt. Role••

Participant Identification Method- Western blot (mono/polyclonal if specified) or- Autoradiography if used in vitro translated 35Slabelled protein- Primer specific PCR (gene)- Identification by antibody (protein)- Autoradiography (gene)- Identification by antibody (protein)

NeutralComponent

22

1.3.3.13 Accession Number
A unique identifier given to a biological polymer sequence (DNA, protein) when it is submitted toa sequence database. If an accession number for a participant(s) is given in the paper pleaserecord it as it can be used to identify the exact variant of a gene or protein used in theexperiment. Many different identifiers could be named in articles; the more common identifiers
are GenBank, Swiss-Prot, RefSeq and are usually found in material and methods section.
**TIP: It is best to verify the accession number by going to NCBI to make surethat it is the protein you are interested in and it also verifies the speciesof the protein.

1.3.3.14 Comments
Any additional comments or clarification about the experiment can be entered here. Special
conditions or treatments in the experiment must be specified. For common additional
information, the format for entry into comments is:
Tags: _______; Treatment:_________; interacting domain:___________; [any otherinformation.]
Example Comments:Ø The interaction was only present in absence of serum stimulation or very low in serum
stimulated cells. Also cells treated with 200 ng/ml EGF for 10 min found to inhibit theinteraction.
Ø Tags: CFLAR (Casper) - Flag, NFKB1 (p105) - HA;Ø NFKB1 (p50) is 35S labeledØ Interaction strengthened after IL-1 beta stimulation whereas interaction between IRAK2
and AKT1 weakened after stimulation; When LY294002, inhibitor of Akt1
phosphorylation was added simultaneously with IL-1 beta treatment, interaction with
IRAK2 was restored while interaction with IL1R1 weakened.

23

Preview and Submit
After all information has been entered, select preview to view the record and confirm theaccuracy prior to submission. If interaction is not ready to be submitted, select ‘Save Draft’. All
information of the submission page will be saved for later access.

If changes are needed, select “previous” and make the desired changes. If no changes need tobe made to the submission, click “commit”.

24You have now successfully submitted a new interaction. In order to submit another interaction,
you can select:
New submission: a blank submission page will open OR
Copy submission: a submission page with data from your previous submission will open. This
option is usually used for similar interactions in the same paper.

1.4

Editing an Interaction

An interaction in InnateDB may need to be edited due to misspelled words or further details may
be needed to be added in the comment section after discussion among the curators. More
importantly, an interaction may need to be edited due to incorrect species or missing information
in uploaded interactions from other databases (MINT, BIND, etc) which were not manuallycurated by our own team.

1.4.1 Editing a Curated Interaction
Search the desired interaction using the search criteria (see section 1.2). Clickon the interaction from “Curated Interaction” Tab (make sure it is not the“Public Interaction” Tab). Click on “Edit” button and the make the appropriatechanges. Click on “Preview” to review the interaction.

25

Click on “Commit” to when changes have been verified.

1.4.2 Editing a Public Interaction
Search the desired interaction using the search criteria (see section). Click on theinteraction from Public Interaction Tab. Click on “Curate” button and the make theappropriate changes. Click on “Preview” to review the interaction.

If more than one public interaction belongs to the interaction group, you will need to clickon the specific interaction you are referring to.

26

Make the appropriate changes to the interaction and click on “Preview”.
The preview page will display the following warning:“Once committed, this public interaction IDB-XXXXX will be deleted from the public
interaction database and no longer be searchable. Your submission will be submitted as a
new curated interaction and published after the next import cycle.”
Click on the check box to confirm the deletion of the published interaction.
I understand, please delete IDB-XXXXX & add as new curated interaction.

Click on “Commit” to successfully delete the published interaction and submitted a new curated
interaction.

1.5

Deleting an interaction

Deleting an interaction results when published interactions uploaded into InnateDB:• used an interaction detection method which our curation team has decided is insufficient
direct evidence to support an interaction (e.g. interaction detection method using
confocal microscopy),• when the public interaction is not found in the paper when manually curated,• when the interaction involves other species other than human or mouse.

27

1.5.1 Deleting a Curated interaction
Search the desired interaction using the search criteria (see 1.2 in this chapter). Click on
the interaction from the Curated Interaction Tab. Click on “Reject”. If more than one
interaction belongs to the interaction group, you will need to click on the specificinteraction you are referring to.

Confirm the rejection by clicking on the “Reject” button.

1.5.2 Deleting a Public interaction
Search the desired interaction using the search criteria (see 1.2 in this chapter). Click on
the interaction from the Public Interaction Tab. Click on “Delete”. If more than one
interaction belongs to the interaction group, you will need to click on the specificinteraction you are referring to.

28

Confirm the rejection by clicking on the “Delete” button.

1.6

Annotating Innate Immune Genes

Aside from annotating innate immunity interactions and pathways, the InnateDB curation teamhas also established a project to annotate genes that have a role in the innate immune
response. This has been initiated in response to the fact that Gene Ontology annotation of the
innate immune response is quite limited in the numbers of genes which have been identified
and in response to the fact that many users have been eager to have a defined list of innate
immune genes. For innate immune gene annotation, curators employ a new tool in the
InnateDB curation system to associate relevant genes with publications which provide evidence
for that gene having a role in innate immunity. Along with the link to the relevant publication(s),the curators provide a one-line summary of the role similar to Entrez GeneRIFs. Such genes arealso automatically associated with the Gene Ontology term "innate immune response" in
InnateDB, which provides a more comprehensive list of these genes for use in the InnateDB
Gene Ontology over-representation analysis tool. To date, Nearly 1000 genes have beenannotated to some extent (as this is an on-going process). It should be noted that it is not theintention of InnateDB to comprehensively annotate all the roles of a given gene, but rather toprovide a brief indication if a gene has a role in innate immunity.
The Innategene function on the main page is used to record immune genes and their function
in innate immunity as described in specific scientific publications. This information can also be
extracted from review articles, however the experimentally defined role of the gene/protein ispreferred. This information is displayed on the gene card on the main site, under the section“InnateDB annotation.”
Innategenes are annotated as a part of the curation process (i.e. not restricted toinnategene/curation emails) and should be captured whenever possible. The gene annotatedshould be the primary focus of the article, and its function should be apparent from the abstract
body.
Innategene annotations should be one or two sentences, and should begin with the gene nameand describe the function only as it relates to innate immunity. For example, classic innate
immune receptors, such as the TLRs, may play a role in neural development, but thoseannotations are irrelevant to InnateDB and should not be entered.
Human and murine orthologs should be annotated together, provided that the genecard of thecorresponding genes cross-references each other under the “Orthologs” section. If the genefunction is only demonstrated in one species, the ortholog should be tagged with“(Demonstrated in mouse/human)”. Gene nomenclature is standardized to HGNC/MGI for
human and mouse, respectively. The annotation text should adhere to Canadian English
spelling (e.g. “signalling”, “defence”).
The innategene annotations are compiled in a word document on a weekly basis using thetemplate outlined below, and reviewed internally before submitting to InnateDB.

29

Gene
SymbolGene(Author)

TLR2
Tlr2

TLR2

SpeciesPublication

Homo
sapiens

21698237Mus
musculus

21698237

Description
TLR2 is required for rapid inflammasome activation in
response to infection by cytosolic bacterial pathogens
such as Francisella novicida. (Demonstrated in mouse)Tlr2 is required for rapid inflammasome activation in
response to infection by cytosolic bacterial pathogens
such as Francisella novicida.

1.6.1 Adding annotation for a gene
Click Innategene in the top right-hand corner of page to begin submitting a new annotation.
The main Innate Genes page displays the most recently annotated genes. Click Add icon on
the main page.

30

On the New Innate Genes page, enter the gene symbol in InnateDB Gene ID field. Select thedesired gene as per section 1.3.2.3.

Note: When looking up a gene ID, a pop-up screen may appear notifying the user of an existing
annotation for the gene. Click EDIT [GENE SYMBOL] button to continue.
31

Click add description to enter a new annotation.
Enter the PMID of the source journal article in the Pubmed ID field. In the Description field,
enter a one-sentence description of the gene in relation to its function in innate immunity. This
information can usually be derived from the conclusion statement of the abstract of the source
journal article.
After entering the required information, click Save button. The information will be updated
instantly on the gene card on www.innatedb.com.

1.6.2 Editing/Deleting an annotation
Click on the magnifying glass icon in the bottom right-hand corner to search for all annotationsof the gene entered in InnateDB.

32

Enter the HGNC symbol for the gene and hit the ENTER key.

If the gene has been annotated previously, the search results page will show the entry for thedesired gene.
Highlight the row displaying the gene by clicking it and click Edit icon.

33

All annotations for the selected gene will be displayed. To delete an annotation, click remove.
To edit the text of an annotation, make the required changes on the page. Once all changes
have been made, click Save button at the bottom of the screen.

34

Chapter 2: Curation Related Issues
2.1

Confirming Species

If species are not specified in the scientific article, the following steps can be taken:
1) If there is an article referring to the plasmid in the Material and Methods section, look up
the species from this article.
2) Contact the corresponding author in the article for species confirmation. Note:remember to copy the email to innatedb-mail@sfu.ca
For Example:

2.2

Recording Subcellular Localization for a Gene

If the Subcellular Localization is specified for a gene in a paper, check the gene card on
InnateDB to see if the subcellular localization has been recorded. If not, then record theInnateDB gene ID and the Gene ontology term referring to the subcellular localization in an
excel sheet, which will be sent to the InnateDB database developer.
The gene ontology term can be looked up at the following link:
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ontology-lookup/

35

2.3

Using Pathogenomics Wiki Site

The Pathogenomics Wiki Site can be accessed athttps://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. This site enables the curators
to:a. Guidelines for submitting interactions
b. Track curation progress (requested and curated genes)c. Record innate immune genes and their function

2.3.1 Guidelines for submitting interactions
https://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/Curators_GroupTo ensure consistency among curators, general rules have been outlined for submittinginteractions.

36To save time and ensure consistency, tissue type, cell type and species have been recorded for
curated cell lines. If a cell line is not listed, add it to the page by following the example insection 1.3.3.10 in 1.3: Adding an interaction.

2.3.2 Track Curation Progress
https://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/List_of_Genes_-_Curated_and_Requests
This page is used to record systematically curated genes with the number of interactions inhuman and mouse. And genes requested by the lab or project manager are also documented.

37

2.3.3 Record immune genes and their function
https://www.pathogenomics.ca/wiki/index.php/InnateDB_curators_list
This page was used previously to record immune genes and their function in specific scientificpublications while curating. This is now replaced by the innategenes function in the submission
system.

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2.3.4 Curation Tips
Papers should be read in full
Articles sent out via innategene/curation emails should always be read to ensure all relevantinteractions are being captured. Introductions and discussion sections may reference
interactions or genes that are relevant for curation and innategene annotations, and it may benecessary to track those articles. [Note: Nature Immunology articles are performed as a part ofInnateDB’s contribution to IMEx, so those papers can be put on hold for curation until the fullissue is released.]
Innate Immunity Pubcrawler queries on a semi-weekly basis
It is important that each curator set-up independent PubCrawler queries and perform dedicatedsearches at least once every two weeks on canonical innate immunity pathways, such as the
TLR / NLR / RIG-I pathways, to ensure that InnateDB is up-to-date with current literature.

Chapter 3: IMEx Curations by InnateDB
3.1

The International Molecular Exchange Consortium

InnateDB is an active member of the International Molecular Exchange Consortium (IMEx). This
organization is dedicated to developing rules for capturing protein-protein interaction data,
actively curating these interactions from the scientific literature and making them available
through a common website.

3.2

Curating for IMEx

InnateDB have committed to curating every issue of Nature Immunology from Sep 2010
onwards using IMEx curation standards. Since IMEx curation requires more annotation detailthan InnateDB is able to capture with the current submission system, InnateDB will submit theinteractions via the IntAct interaction database.
Curation is performed using a hierarchical method of PMID > Experiments > Interactions >Participant > Features, with annotations at each level. Upon submission, all interactions arethoroughly reviewed by an IntAct curator and any changes are made by the original InnateDB
curator before it is accepted and released.
In addition to submitting to IntAct, all InnateDB acceptable interactions (i.e. interactions of
relevance to innate immunity) and innategene annotations from Nat Immunol should be
deposited into InnateDB.
This chapter will highlight the major differences between InnateDB and IMEx curation. Sinceinteractions are submitted to and reviewed by IntAct, the official IntAct annotation rules should
also be reviewed (see Useful Links).

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3.2.1 PMID
Publications are curated in full
All protein-protein interactions described in the original body of the article as well as any
supplementary material should be captured. As long as the protein(s) described can be mappedin UniProt, which annotates all proteins from all species, it should be annotated.
Email of corresponding author is captured
Upon the acceptance of the submitted interactions, an email will be sent to the author notifying
the release of the interaction data.
Annotation details and Xrefs
As much detail describing the interaction should be recorded in the annotation fields at theExperiment, Interaction and Participant level. Some of the commonly used ones are describedin Table 1, the full list and official definitions can be found in the IntAct Annotation Rules. Xref
should also be used at each level, especially if an accession code is referenced in the paper(e.g. PDB deposition).
	
  Table 1. Commonly Used IntAct Annotation Fields
PMID
External-curation
Contact-comments
Experiment
CautionExp-modifications
Library-used
Interaction
3d-r-factor, 3d-resolution, 3d-structure
Agonist / Antagonist
Stimulation / Inhibition
Figure legend
Kinetics
Parameters
Resulting-ptm“Curated by: InnateDB - a knowledge resource for innate immunity”
Info from author correspondence (e.g. species)
Possible errors in experiments or on specifications (e.g. a non-specificantibody was used for WB)
Departure from standard procedures (e.g. modified cell lines)
For Y2H or phage display
X-ray crystallography or NMR studies
Treatments on the cell that induced or inhibited the interaction, respectively
Proteins or small compounds that facilitated or inhibited the interactions,
respectively
Reference the figure or table supporting the interaction
Used in isothermal titration calorimetry (can also be captured underParameter)
Captures Kd, Kon, Koff in SPR studies
Post-translational modifications for enzymatic reactions

3.2.2 Experiment(s)Redundant evidences are captured separately
IMEx curation requires the meticulous documentation of all experimental evidence supporting
an interaction within a single publication. With the exception of two-hybrids, all interaction
should have an accompanying figure or table reference in the publication. Evidence may be
merged only if the experimental conditions, the interaction and participant detection methods, aswell as the participant features are identical. A reciprocal CoIP, for example, should be entered
as two separate lines of evidence.
In vitro is reserved for cell-free environments and extracellular interactions
Unlike InnateDB, where in vitro is used for cell-free as well as cell culture studies.

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3.2.3 Interaction(s)Exclusion of nucleic acid::protein interactions
IMEx does not accept DNA and RNA as interaction participants. These interactions should still
be curated using standard InnateDB rules and deposited into InnateDB only.
Inclusion of colocalisation interactions
These interactions are typically demonstrated via confocal or fluorescent microscopy
experiments at the cellular level of resolution. Marker proteins (as specified in the paper) should
not be entered as a participant. Colocalisation interactions should also be Xref to theappropriate cellular component via GO.
Protein Complexes are annotated as n-ary “association” interactions
In situations where one bait captures more than two preys (e.g. pull down, LC MS/MS), theparticipants are entered in a single “Association” interaction. “Physical Association” designations
are normally reserved for binary interactions.

3.2.4 ParticipantsParticipants are mapped to UniProt
Participants are imported via their UniProt accession number, which designates protein and notgenes. It allows the mapping to specific protein isoforms if the information is available. If theauthor does not specify the protein isoform used, the participants are mapped to the parent
protein. In cases where a synthetic protein construct is used and is conserved across multiple
species, curator may map the synthetic participant to the species matching that of its
interactor(s).
Oligomer participants are imported once and assigned a stoichiometric value
Proteins that oligomerize are imported as one participant with stoichiometric value of >2. For
example, A dimerizes and binds to B. Instead of entering A::A::B, it should be submitted as A::B
with a stoichiometric ratio of 2:1.
Participant features annotates tags, binding region, mutations… etc.
The full participant feature MI terminology tree can be found on OLS (MI:0116). Each participantfeature is mapped to a region on the protein (e.g. amino acids 320-400, c-c, n-n, ?-?). All tags,
radiolabel, or isotope labels should be captured, and if possible, mapped to a protein region.
Deletion experiments are distilled to the narrowest possible binding region and assigned as“required to bind”; where as if the interaction is shown with a partial protein, the region isdenoted as “sufficient to bind”. If the region overlaps with an InterPro protein domain, it shouldbe cross-referenced to the domain accession number.
Amino acid substitutions affecting the interaction are also captured using 3-letter codes of aminoacids (e.g. Tyr34Ala) and assigned as increasing, decreasing or disrupting based on theirinfluence.

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3.3

Useful Links

3.3.1 IMEx
IMEx Consortium
http://www.imexconsortium.org/
This is the public website for the IMEx consortium where it lists the purpose of the consortium,
the participating databases, and the journals that each of the database is responsible for. The
official IMEx curation rules are also found here. It is a good idea to note which journals arebeing curated by other IMEx members to avoid duplication of curation efforts, especially forhigh-throughput interactome papers.
IMExCentral
https://imexcentral.org/icentralbeta/
IMExCentral is the semi-internal website that the IMEx member use to reserve PMIDs for
curation, and it will return an unique IMEx accession number if that publication has not been
curated by one of the IMEx members. In addition, it allows for the recommendation of papers
from public users. The generation of IMEx ID is automatic through the IntAct editor so thecurator should not have to manually reserve Nat Immunol articles.
IMEx Interactions via PSIQUIC
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact/imex/main.xhtml?query=&Search=SearchThis is the search engine for all of the IMEx interactions from all the participating databases.

3.3.2 IntAct
IntAct Database
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact/main.xhtml
The IntAct interaction database.
IntAct Annotation Rules
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/~intact/site/doc/IntActAnnotationRules.pdf?conversationContext=2
The complete IntAct annotation manual. Keep in mind that since these interactions are
submitted to IntAct, they should adhere to the IntAct annotation rules, which may be more
stringent than IMEx. For example, curators are expected to capture a negative interaction if it
accompanies a positive interaction evidence; conversely, IMEx does not take negativeinteractions at all.
Ontology Lookup Service (Molecular Interaction)
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ontology-lookup/browse.do?ontName=MI
Nomenclature for all IMEx interaction data annotations, including participant features (MI:0116),
should adhere to OLS standards. This browser offers the official definition of each MI term.

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3.3.3 Cross References
Nature Immunology
http://www.nature.com/ni/index.html
Nature Immunology issues are published on a monthly basis, and was chosen by InnateDB for
its focus on immunity research and the impact factor of the journal. Each issue will consist of
approximately 8 original research articles for IMEx curation. Each article, including all
supplementary materials, should be thoroughly read to ensure all interactions are being
captured. InnateDB have curated Nature Immunology from Aug. 2010.
UniProtKB
http://www.uniprot.org/
Instead of mapping to ENSEMBL genes like InnateDB, IntAct maps their participants to
UniProtKB. UniProt/TrEMBL ( ) automatically annotates proteins from all species, while
UniProt/SwissProt ( ) entries have been manually reviewed by a curator with high quality
annotations and are non-redundant. Always try to use the reviewed entries if possible.
InterPro
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/
InterPro annotates protein signatures or domains. Since each participant feature is mapped toa particular region on the protein, curators are expected to cross-reference InterPro accession
number(s) if the region spans an InterPro annotated domain.
Gene Ontology
http://www.geneontology.org/
Gene Ontology is cross-referenced in colocalisation interactions to specify the cellularcomponent that the protein complex was found in.

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