Preprint Review Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

The Use of Graph Databases in Systems Biology: A Systematic Review

Version 1 : Received: 20 March 2024 / Approved: 21 March 2024 / Online: 21 March 2024 (13:52:28 CET)

How to cite: Mazein, I.; Rougny, A.; Mazein, A.; Henkel, R.; Gütebier, L.; Michaelis, L.; Ostaszewski, M.; Schneider, R.; Satagopam, V.; Jensen, L.; Waltemath, D.; Wodke, J.; Balaur, I. The Use of Graph Databases in Systems Biology: A Systematic Review. Preprints 2024, 2024031289. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1289.v1 Mazein, I.; Rougny, A.; Mazein, A.; Henkel, R.; Gütebier, L.; Michaelis, L.; Ostaszewski, M.; Schneider, R.; Satagopam, V.; Jensen, L.; Waltemath, D.; Wodke, J.; Balaur, I. The Use of Graph Databases in Systems Biology: A Systematic Review. Preprints 2024, 2024031289. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202403.1289.v1

Abstract

Graph databases (GDBs) are becoming increasingly popular across scientific disciplines, being highly suitable to store and connect complex heterogeneous data. In systems biology, they are used as a backend solution for biological data repositories, ontologies, networks, pathways, and knowledge graph (KG) databases. In this review, we analyse all publications using or mentioning graph databases retrieved from PubMed and PubMed Central full-text search, focusing on the top 16 available GDB technologies. Relevant publications are then categorised according to their domain and application. We detail different approaches and highlight advantages of outstanding resources, such as UniProtKB, Disease Ontology, and Reactome, which provide graph-based solutions. We discuss ongoing efforts of the systems biology community to standardise and harmonise KG creation and the maintenance of integrated resources. Outlining prospects, including the use of GDBs as a way of communication between biological data repositories, we conclude that efficient design, querying, and maintenance of GDBs will be key for knowledge generation in systems biology and other research fields with heterogeneous data.

Keywords

graph databases; RDF; NoSQL databases; systems biology; network biology; ontology

Subject

Computer Science and Mathematics, Mathematical and Computational Biology

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0


×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.