Traceable Author Statement (TAS)

From GO Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Overview

  • The TAS evidence code covers author statements that are attributed to a cited reference that is the source of the original evidence (e,g, experimental results, sequence comparison, etc.).
  • Typically, TAS annotations come from review articles. Statements from the introduction and discussion sections of primary research articles may also be suitable if another reference is cited as the source of experimental work or analysis.
  • When annotating with this code the curator should use caution and be aware that authors often cite papers dealing with experiments that were performed in organisms different from the one being discussed in the paper at hand. Thus a problem with the TAS code is that it may turn out from following up the references in the paper that no experiments were performed on the gene in the organism actually being characterized in the primary paper. For this reason we recommend (when time and resources allow) that curators track down the cited paper and annotate directly from the experimental paper using the appropriate experimental evidence code. When this is not possible and it is necessary to annotate from reviews, the TAS code is the appropriate code to use for statements that are associated with a cited reference.
  • Once an annotation has been made to a given term using an experimental evidence code, we recommend removing any annotations made to the same term using the TAS evidence code.

Examples of TAS Usage

Usage of the With/From field for TAS

  • The With/From field is NOT populated for annotations made using the TAS evidence code.

Examples where the TAS evidence code should NOT be used

  • Note that prior to July 2006, it was allowed to use the TAS evidence code for annotations based on information found in a text book or dictionary; as text book material has often become common knowledge (e.g. "everybody" knows that enolase is a glycolytic enzyme). However, at the 2006 GO Annotation Camp, it was concluded that this sort of information is not traceable to its source and is thus not suitable for the TAS evidence code. When annotating on the basis of common knowledge possessed by the curator, consider the IC code.
  • When annotating an author statement that that is not associated with a cited reference, use the NAS code.

Quality Control Checks

Evidence and Conclusion Ontology

ECO:0000304 traceable author statement used in manual assertion

Links

Curator Guide to GO Evidence Codes

Gene Ontology website GO Evidence Codes list

Review Status

Last reviewed: January 30, 2018