3 research outputs found
Quality assurance of diatom counts in Europe: towards harmonized datasets
Investigations on organism ecology, biodiversity and biogeography often use large compiled datasets to extract information on species ecological preferences, which then can be used in environmental assessment. Freshwater benthic diatoms are commonly used in this context. However, it is important that the taxonomic information of the separate diatom datasets is compatible. At present, inconsistencies between diatom datasets, mainly due to differences and uncertainties in diatom identification, may misinform diatom taxon-specific ecological preferences, geographical distribution and water quality assessment. It is our opinion that these inconsistencies in diatom datasets can be reduced with quality assurance (QA), such as identification exercises. However, the results of these exercises must be well documented and well communicated; otherwise, gained knowledge may not spread inter-regionally or internationally. As a first step to reach greater consistency in QA/harmonization studies, this article (1) presents and compares information of existing diatom identification and counting QA from published and grey (non-peer reviewed) European literature to identify advantages and drawbacks of each approach; (2) summarizes taxa that can easily be misidentified according to European identification exercises; and (3) suggests a consistent design of identification exercises for diatom dataset QA
DisProt in 2022: improved quality and accessibility of protein intrinsic disorder annotation
International audienceThe Database of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (DisProt, URL: https://disprot.org) is the major repository of manually curated annotations of intrinsically disordered proteins and regions from the literature. We report here recent updates of DisProt version 9, including a restyled web interface, refactored Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Ontology (IDPO), improvements in the curation process and significant content growth of around 30%. Higher quality and consistency of annotations is provided by a newly implemented reviewing process and training of curators. The increased curation capacity is fostered by the integration of DisProt with APICURON, a dedicated resource for the proper attribution and recognition of biocuration efforts. Better interoperability is provided through the adoption of the Minimum Information About Disorder (MIADE) standard, an active collaboration with the Gene Ontology (GO) and Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO) consortia and the support of the ELIXIR infrastructure