The external ontologies and controlled vocabulary terms used to create VFB.
These are mostly open source projects and contributions are welcome. VFB actively maintains FBbt, FBcv, dpo and FBdv and contributes to FlyBase and RO.
The VFB query system relies on representation of data/knowledge in OWL. Central to this a representation of Drosophila neuro-anatomy in the Drosophila anatomy ontology. The anatomical structures depicted in images displayed on VFB are represented as a KnowledgeBase of OWL individuals, which are classified (typed) using OWL class expressions referencing the anatomy ontology. When this KnowledgeBase of individuals is combined with the ontology, a reasoner can be used to classify and query for anatomical structures depicted in the images on VFB.
Here is a list of all available datasets available on Virtual Fly Brain (VFB).
An ontology of Drosophila melanogaster anatomy.
FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology.
An ontology of Drosophila melanogaster developmental stages.
A miscellaneous ontology of terms used for curation in FlyBase, including the DPO.
The Gene Ontology (GO) provides a framework and set of concepts for describing the functions of gene products from all organisms.
A structured controlled vocabulary for sequence annotation, for the exchange of annotation data and for the description of sequence objects in databases.
GENO is an OWL model of genotypes, their more fundamental sequence components, and links to related biological and experimental entities.
The Information Artifact Ontology (IAO) is an ontology of information entities, originally driven by work by the OBI digital entity and realizable information entity branch.
An ontology of phenotypic qualities (properties, attributes or characteristics).
The upper level ontology upon which OBO Foundry ontologies are built.
An upper level ontology to facilitate interoperability between existing anatomy ontologies for different species.
The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI) is build in a collaborative, international effort and will serve as a resource for annotating biomedical investigations, including the study design, protocols and instrumentation used, the data generated and the types of analysis performed on the data. This ontology arose from the Functional Genomics Investigation Ontology (FuGO) and will contain both terms that are common to all biomedical investigations, including functional genomics investigations and those that are more domain specific.
The Population and Community Ontology (PCO) describes material entities, qualities, and processes related to collections of interacting organisms such as populations and communities. It is taxon neutral, and can be used for any species, including humans. The classes in the PCO are useful for describing evolutionary processes, organismal interactions, and ecological experiments. Practical applications of the PCO include community health care, plant pathology, behavioral studies, sociology, and ecology.
The OBO Relations Ontology (RO) is a collection of OWL relations (ObjectProperties) intended for use across a wide variety of biological ontologies.
Uberon is an integrated cross-species anatomy ontology representing a variety of entities classified according to traditional anatomical criteria such as structure, function and developmental lineage. The ontology includes comprehensive relationships to taxon-specific anatomical ontologies, allowing integration of functional, phenotype and expression data.
An ontology representation of the NCBI organismal taxonomy.
A structured controlled vocabulary of sample preparation, visualization and imaging methods used in biomedical research.
An ontology for the description of Drosophila melanogaster phenotypes.
Ontology about C. elegans and other nematode phenotypes.
The Zebrafish Phenotype Ontology formally defines all phenotypes of the Zebrafish model organism.
Last modified January 20, 2026:
move out ontologies (362809c)