Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.

Networks are a common methodology used to capture increasingly complex associations between biological entities. They serve as a resource of biological knowledge for bioinformatics analyses, and also comprise the subsequent results. However, the interpretation of biological networks is challenging a...

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Main Authors: Florian Auer, Simone Mayer, Frank Kramer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-06-01
Series:PLoS Computational Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010205
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author Florian Auer
Simone Mayer
Frank Kramer
author_facet Florian Auer
Simone Mayer
Frank Kramer
author_sort Florian Auer
collection DOAJ
description Networks are a common methodology used to capture increasingly complex associations between biological entities. They serve as a resource of biological knowledge for bioinformatics analyses, and also comprise the subsequent results. However, the interpretation of biological networks is challenging and requires suitable visualizations dependent on the contained information. The most prominent software in the field for the visualization of biological networks is Cytoscape, a desktop modeling environment also including many features for analysis. A further challenge when working with networks is their distribution. Within a typical collaborative workflow, even slight changes of the network data force one to repeat the visualization step as well. Also, just minor adjustments to the visual representation not only need the networks to be transferred back and forth. Collaboration on the same resources requires specific infrastructure to avoid redundancies, or worse, the corruption of the data. A well-established solution is provided by the NDEx platform where users can upload a network, share it with selected colleagues or make it publicly available. NDExEdit is a web-based application where simple changes can be made to biological networks within the browser, and which does not require installation. With our tool, plain networks can be enhanced easily for further usage in presentations and publications. Since the network data is only stored locally within the web browser, users can edit their private networks without concerns of unintentional publication. The web tool is designed to conform to the Cytoscape Exchange (CX) format as a data model, which is used for the data transmission by both tools, Cytoscape and NDEx. Therefore the modified network can be directly exported to the NDEx platform or saved as a compatible CX file, additionally to standard image formats like PNG and JPEG.
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spelling doaj.art-d9ca8d5fc8a64e439069905ab1781d4e2022-12-22T03:00:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Computational Biology1553-734X1553-73582022-06-01186e101020510.1371/journal.pcbi.1010205Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.Florian AuerSimone MayerFrank KramerNetworks are a common methodology used to capture increasingly complex associations between biological entities. They serve as a resource of biological knowledge for bioinformatics analyses, and also comprise the subsequent results. However, the interpretation of biological networks is challenging and requires suitable visualizations dependent on the contained information. The most prominent software in the field for the visualization of biological networks is Cytoscape, a desktop modeling environment also including many features for analysis. A further challenge when working with networks is their distribution. Within a typical collaborative workflow, even slight changes of the network data force one to repeat the visualization step as well. Also, just minor adjustments to the visual representation not only need the networks to be transferred back and forth. Collaboration on the same resources requires specific infrastructure to avoid redundancies, or worse, the corruption of the data. A well-established solution is provided by the NDEx platform where users can upload a network, share it with selected colleagues or make it publicly available. NDExEdit is a web-based application where simple changes can be made to biological networks within the browser, and which does not require installation. With our tool, plain networks can be enhanced easily for further usage in presentations and publications. Since the network data is only stored locally within the web browser, users can edit their private networks without concerns of unintentional publication. The web tool is designed to conform to the Cytoscape Exchange (CX) format as a data model, which is used for the data transmission by both tools, Cytoscape and NDEx. Therefore the modified network can be directly exported to the NDEx platform or saved as a compatible CX file, additionally to standard image formats like PNG and JPEG.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010205
spellingShingle Florian Auer
Simone Mayer
Frank Kramer
Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
PLoS Computational Biology
title Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
title_full Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
title_fullStr Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
title_full_unstemmed Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
title_short Data-dependent visualization of biological networks in the web-browser with NDExEdit.
title_sort data dependent visualization of biological networks in the web browser with ndexedit
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010205
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