WikiPathways: capturing the full diversity of pathway knowledge.

Area of Science:

• * Systems biology
• * Bioinformatics
• * Computational biology

Background:

• * WikiPathways is a collaborative, open-source platform for biological pathway data.
• * The platform has experienced significant content growth and user contributions.
• * Previous updates focused on platform features and content expansion.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To provide an update on the growth and current state of WikiPathways.
• * To highlight new features for pathway creation, curation, and analysis.
• * To showcase expanded access methods for pathway data.

Main Methods:

• * Continuous community-driven content contribution and curation.
• * Development of new features like Quick Edit for pathway authors.
• * Integration with analysis tools (PathVisio, Cytoscape) and programming environments.
• * Implementation of diverse data access options (figures, data files, linked data).

Main Results:

• * Massive growth in pathway content contributed by a large community.
• * Introduction of new tools and services enhancing pathway analysis and visualization.
• * Enhanced accessibility of pathway data through various formats and programmatic access.
• * Development of features supporting specific research communities and topics.

Conclusions:

• * WikiPathways continues to be a vital resource for biological pathway information.
• * Ongoing development ensures the platform remains adaptable to researchers' needs.
• * Expanded features and access methods facilitate broader use and integration of pathway data.