Zsyntax: a formal language for molecular biology with projected applications in text mining and biological prediction.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 20209084.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0009511 and PMC identifier 2831071.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
We propose a formal language that allows for transposing biological information precisely and rigorously into machine-readable information. This language, which we call Zsyntax (where Z stands for the Greek word zetaomegaeta, life), is grounded on a particular type of non-classical logic, and it can be used to write algorithms and computer programs. We present it as a first step towards a comprehensive formal language for molecular biology in which any biological process can be written and analyzed as a sort of logical "deduction". Moreover, we illustrate the potential value of this language, both in the field of text mining and in that of biological prediction.
Medical subject headings
- Computational Biology
- Data Mining
- Molecular Biology
- Natural Language Processing