Semi-automated evaluation of biomedical ontologies for the biobanking domain based on competency questions.

Background: Biosample collections and biobank information systems have become a key enabler for medical research. Therefore it is important to identify potentially relevant ontologies to semantically enrich information related to the biobanking domain.

Objectives: We present a three-stage semi-automated evaluation approach which allows identifying relevant ontologies for the biobanking domain based on competency questions.

ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors and their roles in affecting nucleosome fiber composition.

ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors of the SNF2 family are key components of the cellular machineries that shape and regulate chromatin structure and function. Members of this group of proteins have broad and heterogeneous functions ranging from controlling gene activity, facilitating DNA damage repair, promoting homologous recombination to maintaining genomic stability. Several chromatin remodeling factors are critical components of nucleosome assembly processes, and recent reports have identified specific functions of distinct chromatin remodeling factors in the assembly of variant histones into chromatin.

The chromodomains of CHD1 are critical for enzymatic activity but less important for chromatin localization.

The molecular motor protein CHD1 has been implicated in the regulation of transcription and in the transcription-independent genome-wide incorporation of H3.3 into paternal chromatin in Drosophila melanogaster. A key feature of CHD1 is the presence of two chromodomains, which can bind to histone H3 methylated at lysine 4 and thus might serve to recruit and/or maintain CHD1 at the chromatin.