Table 2.

Comparison between current anatomical terminologies/ontologies an the proposed mTA

Terminology/Ontology	Scope and Focus	Structure and organization	Annotation and detail	Applications	No of classes	Ontology depth	Axes of classification	Formal ontology (OWL)	Knowledge base/terminology	Asserted references/imported classes	Authority
UBERON	Multi-species anatomy ontology that aims to provide a common framework for representing anatomical structures, both adult and developmental, across diverse organisms, including humans, mice, and other model organisms	Built on the principles of the Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Foundry, using a hierarchical structure of classes and relationships to represent anatomical entities, cells tissues and features across different species. Includes many relationship types such as 'innervated_by", "part_of" etc	Aims to provide a broad coverage of anatomical entities across species but may not have extensive detail at the level of individual species or developmental stages	Widely used in bioinformatics and comparative anatomy studies to integrate and analyze anatomical data across species and to support cross-species research	25,930	34	Complex hierarchy containing mixed biological concepts and semantic types; not all anatomical Spatial, taxonomic, developmental and systematic relations	Yes	No	Refers to or imports more than 30 anatomy, species specific, molecular and functional ontologies, e.g. GO, ChEBI, MA, FMA etc. Specifies presence of classes in taxon	Uberon curation team
MA	Specifically focuses on the anatomical structures of the adult mouse, providing detailed information about the mouse anatomy at the macroscopic and microscopic levels	Uses a hierarchical structure to organize anatomical structures within the adult mouse, including regions, organs, and tissues. It provides specific information relevant to the mouse anatomy. "is_a" and "part_of"	Provides detailed annotations specific to the anatomy of the adult mouse, including information on organ systems, structures, and their spatial relationships	Primarily used in mouse research, such as studies involving mouse models of human diseases or investigations into the mouse anatomy for experimental design and interpretation	3257	9	Anatomically systematic. Region, organ system, body fluid, substance, organ	Yes	No		MA local curation team, The Jackson Laboratory
FMA	Focus on human anatomy, providing a comprehensive representation of human anatomical structures and their relationships	Employs a complex structure based on a foundational model, utilizing a mix of hierarchical relationships, partonomic relationships, and other axioms to represent human anatomical entities and their attributes	Provide comprehensive and detailed information about human anatomical structures, including spatial relationships, hierarchical organization, and functional attributes	Extensively used in various human clinical fields, including medical education, clinical informatics, imaging and anatomical research, to provide a detailed and standardized representation of human anatomy	104,721	23	Anatomically systematic. Physical and non physical anatomical entities, including relations and transformation entities	Yes	No		FMA local curation team
NAV	NAV aims to establish a standardized nomenclature for anatomical structures in veterinary medicine covering the main veterinary species. Covers a wide range of animal species, including cat, dog, pig, cattle, sheep, goat, horse, and rabbit	NAV is organized systematically, providing hierarchical relationships between anatomical structures. Terms are classified based on their position, function, and relationship with other structures. This hierarchical organization allows for clear identification and classification of anatomical entities	NAV includes species-specific terms to address anatomical variations and differences among different animal species. It recognizes that animals may have unique anatomical features, and the terminology provides species-specific terms to accurately describe those structures	It provides a common language and set of terms for accurately and consistently describing anatomical structures in animals. Used by veterinarians, researchers, and anatomists mainly in the clinical domain. Global reach and available in Latin and English	> 6500	N/A	Hierarchical structure. General divisions on major anatomical systems or regions of the body, specifc regions or structures within each general system. Hierarchical relationships captured and species specific terminology	No	Yes		Maintained and updated by the International Committee on Veterinary Gross Anatomical Nomenclature (ICVGAN)
mTA	mTA aims to establish a standardized nomenclature for confirmed anatomical structures in laboratory mice (Mus musculus)	mTa will be organised systematically in several sections: general terms, regions of the body, osteology, arthrology, myology, digestive apparatus, respiratory apparatus, thoracic cavity, urogenital apparatus, urinary organs, male and female genital organs, perineum, peritoneum, endocrine glands, angiology, nervous system, and common integument. Anatomical terms are classified based on their position, shape, function and relationship with other structures	mTA will provide definitions of mouse anatomical terms and its relation to human anatomical concepts and structures	It will provide a set of confirmed anatomical structures for accurately and consistently describing mouse morphology. Definitions of anatomical terms will be accompanied by annotated drawing images. It will be available in Latin and English and Latin	~ 6500	N/A	It will be a hierarchical structure. General divisions on major anatomical systems or regions of the body, specific regions or structures within each organ	No	Yes		It will be developed and curated by a expert panel of mouse morphologists