Solving the Problem: Genome Annotation Standards before the Data Deluge

Table 2. Summary of structured evidence for INSDC feature annotation¹

Allowed tokens
Token	“/experiment” qualifier²	“/inference” qualifier³	Comment
Free text	Yes	No	free text describing the experiment
Non experimental structured format	No	Yes	structured format of TYPE + EVIDENCE_BASIS (type includes “non experimental”, “similar to”, “profile”, or “alignment”, evidence basis can include algorithm with version, or database with accession.version)
coordinates	Yes	Yes	support for annotated coordinates
description	Yes	Yes	support for description including function
existence	Yes	Yes	support for existence of feature in this organism
PMID or DOI	Yes	No	publication describing experimental evidence

1. Changes proposed and accepted by INSDC to the /experiment and /inference qualifiers. The new tokens (bolded) are optional for both qualifiers.
2. A brief description of the nature of the experimental evidence that supports the feature identification or assignment.
3. A structured description of non-experimental evidence inferring and supporting feature identification or assignment.

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