Finding GO enrichment in an Ontology Conditional way with topGO
The GO is a hierarchical ontology that describes the biological processes, molecular functions, and cellular components of gene products in a standardized way. The ontology is structured as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) with three main categories: Biological Process (BP), Molecular Function (MF), and Cellular Component (CC).
Higher in the GO hierarchy, there are broader terms; for example, in the BP category, terms such as biological regulation and cellular process exist. As we move down the hierarchy, the terms become more specific and narrower in scope, and regulation of gene expression or protein localization to organelle are more specific terms within the BP category. Each term has parent terms and child terms.
The hierarchical nature of the GO allows researchers to perform analyses at different levels of specificity. A common need is to collapse similar terms into a higher, more general term that captures them...
