Lack of terms for viral components?

[uermel]

Hi GO community, I'm a curator/maintainer at the CZ cryoET data portal. We use GO cellular component terms to assign meaning to image annotations for cryo-electron tomograms.

We have some data that includes labels for spike proteins of SARS-CoV2, but I'm having a hard time finding a general (or specific) term to associate with the SARS-CoV2 spike protein. I have found the virion component term and its children, but they don't seem very expressive.

I'm wondering if there is a reason for the lack of terms regarding viruses in GO? Is this out of scope or just a matter of requesting additional, more specific terms?

[pgaudet]

Hi @uermel
Thanks for contacting GO. My understanding is that the spike protein is a gene product, not a complex or a cellular component.

In GO we would annotate the protein as being part of the virion membrane - see GO annotations at UniProt: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P0DTC2/entry

What other more precise terms were you looking for?

Thanks, Pascale

[uermel]

Hi Pascale,

this clarifies things. I think I was expecting a slightly more specific term like "viral surface protein". In this case I think it makes sense to stick to established annotations.

Thanks!