Mutagenesis: ILP experiments in a non-determinate biological domain

Abstract

This paper describes the use of Inductive Logic Programming as a scientific assistant. In particular, it details the application of the ILP system Progol to discovering structural features that can result in mutagenicity in small molecules. To discover these concepts, Progol only had access to the atomic and bond structure of the molecules. With such a primitive description and no further assistance from chemists, Progol corroborated some existing knowledge and proposed a new structural alert for mutagenicity in compounds. In the process, the experiments act as a case study in which, even with extremely limited background knowledge, an Inductive Logic Programming tool firstly, complements a complex statistical model developed by skilled chemists, and secondly, continues to provide understandable theories when the statistical model fails. The experiments also constitute the first demonstrations of a prototype of the Progol system. Progol allows the construction of hypotheses with boun..