Principles for merging terms
Merge Procedure
What is a GO term merge?
Term merges result from two or more terms being subsumed into a single term.
When are GO terms merged?
Common reasons to merge terms include:
- Terms have exactly the same meaning
- The meaning is too close to support consistent, distinct annotations
- The distinction between a parent and a child is not useful or necessary in the scope of GO
What happens when GO terms are merged?
When terms are merged, e.g. term A and term B are merged into term A, the GO ID of term B is made an alternative (secondary) GO ID, and the term string is made a synonym. Secondary GO IDs remain in GO with the 'alt_id' tag.
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