RDF-IDs in BioPAX

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Although the idea of this page is general, examples are BioPAX Level2 specific. Please continue to L4Workgroups pages, such as Semantic Web or Validation ones (Semantic_web/linking/CVs, URI-CV_Discussion, etc.), for more information.

Main points I want to make here:

B. In early uses of BioPAX, RDF-IDs have not been stable (no need).
 * 1) RDF-IDs are required for all instances in OWL
 * 2) They are not needed for data exchange, however
 * 3) * A) Data producer lables an xref with an RDF-ID, data consumer throws that ID away when they integrate it into their database
 * 1) E.g. a particular xref would likely have a different RDF-ID after every data conversion
 * 2) Storing RDF-IDs for the numerous instances created during conversion to BioPAX would be a serious burden to users
 * 3) Stable RDF-IDs required for Semantic Web
 * 4) Need ID to be stable in order to create links between different pieces of information
 * 5) As semantic web develops, we will likely face increased demand for stable RDF-IDs

Possible solutions:

B. Users could create MD5 of primary keys, use these as RDF-IDs B. Not sure if this would work in all cases...
 * 1) Create stable RDF-IDs for entities
 * 2) * A) Entities (e.g. proteins, pathways, etc.) likely to have primary keys in native DBs
 * 1) Subordinate utility class IDs to entity IDs
 * 2) * A) E.g. if primary ID is "protein1", a utility class ID could be "protein1.unificationXref.Swiss-Prot.P20425"
 * 3) *# Or the MD5 of that string