TABLE 1.

Example of sentences not appropriate for curation, with reason.

No assertion—a statement of technique

"We extracted 50 nucleotides directly upstream from each captured 5′-end, resulting in 1,451 sequences derived from the (delta)hrpL-FLAG sample and 1,472 sequences from the hrpL sample (overlapping sequences within a sample were merged) and used the sequences as input to MEME Pesquita et al. (2009).”

No assertion—an observation of experimental output

“We found that compared to that of wild type, toxR-lacZ expression was reduced in aphB mutants, while expression of aphB from a plasmid in this mutant restored toxR expression (Figure 4B) and ToxR production (Figure 4C).”

No assertion—a statement of purpose

“To confirm that S. lividans AdpA controls the expression of genes identified as differentially expressed in microarray experiments, six genes were studied in more detail by qRT-PCR.”

No experimental evidence stated

"Moreover, the inability to observe direct EspR-dependent regulation at some major EspR binding sites suggests that EspR has no or little effect on these genes in the conditions tested or that other regulators counter-balance the effect of increased EspR levels."

Assertion not about one of the 6 categories

"As expected, the ompF promoter activity (beta-galactosidase activity) decreased significantly in DeltaompR relative to WT grown at high medium osmolarity (0.5 M sorbitol); however, it showed almost no difference between WT and C-ompR, thereby confirming that the ompR mutation was nonpolar."

Assertion too vague

"Although the scan matched all annotated and new candidate hrp promoters identified in this study, the model did not match any other region in the genome that showed enrichment in the ChIP-Seq experiment (Evalue cut-off = 0.001, 245 promoter candidates in total)."

Evidence and assertion not in one sentence or two consecutive sentences

Sentence #1: "The stacking energy profiles of R. etli and E. coli promoter regions were variable, but with a tendency to low negative values (low stability), nevertheless local minimum values were located around the -10 box."

Sentence #2: "In contrast, the stacking energy profiles of R. etli and E. coli coding regions were similar: Both showed more negative values that corresponded to great stability (Figures 2A,B)."

Sentence #3: "These results suggest that despite the variability of the nucleotide composition of the R. etli promoters, these regions possess thermodynamic and structural properties similar to the E. coli promoter regions."