76 4 The Semantic Web and Bioinformatics Applications
<Protein name="Fumerase"/>
</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>
<Protein name="Malate dehydrogenase"/>
</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</usesEnzyme>
</Pathway>
The sequence is itself a resource as well as being the container of the other
resources. Notice the use of therdf:liproperty for the members of the
container. This name was borrowed from HTML where it is used for the
members of lists. There are three kinds of container:
- rdf:Seq.A sequence contains an ordered list of resources. In HTML one
uses theoltag for such a list. - rdf:Bag.A bag is an unordered container of resources. A bag can have no
resources at all, and it can contain the same resource more than once. In
HTML one uses theultag for such a container. - rdf:Alt. An Alt container is intended to represent a set of alternatives.
The first resource is the default or preferred alternative, and there is no
preference among the others. So an Alt container is a set with one dis-
tinguished member. This corresponds to a “drop-down menu” in HTML,
and is specified by using theselecttag.
More recently, a second mechanism for ordered lists was added to RDF,
called acollection. The Krebs cycle can now be expressed as follows:
<Pathway name="Krebs Cycle">
<usesEnzyme rdf:parseType="Collection">
<Protein name="Citrate synthase"/>
<Protein name="Aconitase"/>
<Protein name="Isocitrate dehydrogenase"/>
<Protein name="a-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex"/>
<Protein name="Succinyl-CoA synthetase"/>
<Protein name="Succinate dehydrogenase"/>
<Protein name="Fumerase"/>
<Protein name="Malate dehydrogenase"/>
</usesEnzyme>
</Pathway>