Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI(3)

NAME
Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI - Simple interface to Sequence Ontology feature types

SYNOPSIS
  # Get a Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI object from somewhere
  $term = $db->fetch....

  # Get the name of the term
  $definition = $term->name;

  # Get the accession of the term
  $accession = $term->accession;

  # Get the definition of the term
  $definition = $term->definition;

  # Get the parents of the term, optionally filtered by relationship
  @parents = $term->parents($relationship);

  # Get the children of the term, optionally filtered by relationship
  @children = $term->children($relationship);

  # Given a parent and child, returns their relationship, or undef if
  # not directly related
  $relationship = $parent->relationship($child);

  # Return true if two terms are identical
  $match = $term1->equals($term2);

  # Return true if $term2 is a descendent of $term1, optionally
  # filtering by relationship ("isa" assumed)
  $match = $term1->is_descendent($term2,$relationship);

  # Return true if $term2 is a parent of $term1, optionally
  # filtering by relationship ("isa" assumed)
  $match = $term1->is_parent($term2,$relationship);

  # Return true if $term2 is equal to $term1 or if $term2 descends
  # from term 1 via the "isa" relationship
  $match = $term1->match($term2);

  # Create a new term de novo
  $term = Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI->new(-name       => $name,
                                      -accession  => $accession,
                                      -definition => $definition);

  # Add a child to a term
  $term1->add_child($term2,$relationship);

  # Delete a child from a term
  $term1->delete_child($term2);

DESCRIPTION
Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI is an interface to the Gene Ontology Consortium's Sequence Ontology (SO). The SO, like other ontologies, is a directed acyclic graph in which a child node may have multiple parents. The relationship between parent and child is one of a list of relationships. The SO currently recognizes two relationships "isa" and "partof".

The intent of this interface is to interoperate with older software that uses bare strings to represent feature types. For this reason, the interface overloads the stringify ("") and string equals (eq) operations.

FEEDBACK

  Mailing Lists
User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably
 to one of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.

  bioperl-l@bio.perl.org

  Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track
 the bugs and their resolution.
 Bug reports can be submitted via email or the web:

  bioperl-bugs@bio.perl.org
  http://bugzilla.bioperl.org/

AUTHOR - Lincoln Stein
Email lstein@cshl.org

APPENDIX
The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

  name
 Title   : name
 Usage   : $string = $term->name
 Function: return the term for the type
 Returns : a string
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

  accession
 Title   : accession
 Usage   : $string = $term->accession
 Function: return the accession number for the term
 Returns : a string
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

  definition
 Title   : definition
 Usage   : $string = $term->definition
 Function: return the human-readable definition for the term
 Returns : a string
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

  parents
 Title   : parents
 Usage   : @terms = $term->parents($relationship)
 Function: return parent terms
 Returns : list of Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

Returns the parents for the current term, empty if there are none. An optional relationship argument will return those parents that are related via the specified relationship type.

The relationship is one of "isa" or "partof".

  children
 Title   : children
 Usage   : @terms = $term->children($relationship)
 Function: return children terms
 Returns : list of Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

Returns the children for the current term, empty if there are none. An optional relationship argument will return those children that are related via the specified relationship type.

The relationship is one of "isa" or "partof".

  relationship
 Title   : relationship
 Usage   : $relationship = $parent->relationship($child)
 Function: return the relationship between a parent and a child
 Returns : one of "isa" or "partof"
 Args    : none
 Status  : Public

This method returns the relationship between a parent and one of its immediate descendents. It can return "isa", "partof", or undef if there is not a direct parent/child relationship (kissing cousins are *not* recognized).

  equals
 Title   : equals
 Usage   : $boolean = $term1->equals($term2)
 Function: return true if $term1 and $term2 are the same
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : second term
 Status  : Public

The two terms must be identical. In practice, this means that if term2 is a Bio::Das::FeatureI object, then its accession number must match the first term's accession number. Otherwise, if term2 is a bare string, then it must equal (in a case insensitive manner) the name of term1.

NOTE TO IMPLEMENTORS: This method is defined in terms of other methods, so does not need to be implemented.

  is_descendent
 Title   : is_descendent
 Usage   : $boolean = $term1->is_descendent($term2 [,$relationship])
 Function: return true of $term2 is a descendent of $term1
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : second term
 Status  : Public

This method returns true if $term2 descends from $term1. The operation traverses the tree. The traversal can be limited to the relationship type ("isa" or "partof") if desired. $term2 can be a bare string, in which case the term names will be used as the basis for term matching (see equals()).

NOTE TO IMPLEMENTORS: this method is defined as the inverse of is_parent(). Do not implement it directly, but do implement is_parent().

  is_parent
 Title   : is_parent
 Usage   : $boolean = $term1->is_parent($term2 [,$relationship])
 Function: return true of $term2 is a parent of $term1
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : second term
 Status  : Public

This method returns true if $term2 is a parent of $term1. The operation traverses the tree. The traversal can be limited to the relationship type ("isa" or "partof") if desired. $term2 can be a bare string, in which case the term names will be used as the basis for term matching (see equals()).

NOTE TO IMPLEMENTORS: Implementing this method will also implement is_descendent().

  match
 Title   : match
 Usage   : $boolean = $term1->match($term2)
 Function: return true if $term1 equals $term2 or if $term2 is an "isa" descendent
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : second term
 Status  : Public

This method combines equals() and is_descendent() in such a way that the two terms will match if they are the same or if the second term is an instance of the first one. This is also the basis of the operator overloading of eq.

NOTE TO IMPLEMENTORS: This method is defined in terms of other methods and does not need to be implemented.

  new
 Title   : new
 Usage   : $term = Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI->new(@args)
 Function: create a new term
 Returns : new term
 Args    : see below
 Status  : Public

This method creates a new Bio::Das::FeatureTypeI. Arguments:

  Argument    Description
  --------   ------------

  -name       Name of this term

  -accession  Accession number for the term

  -definition Definition of the term

  add_child
 Title   : add_child
 Usage   : $boolean = $term->add_child($term2,$relationship)
 Function: add a child to a term
 Returns : a boolean indicating success
 Args    : new child
 Throws  : a "cycle detected" exception
 Status  : Public

This method adds a new child to the indicated node. It may detect a cycle in the DAG and throw a "cycle detected" exception.

  delete_child
 Title   : delete_child
 Usage   : $boolean = $term->delete_child($term2);
 Function: delete a child of the term
 Returns : a boolean indicating success
 Args    : child to be deleted
 Throws  : a "not a child" exception
 Status  : Public

This method deletes a new child from the indicated node. It will throw an exception if the indicated child is not a direct descendent.