Bipartite graph structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10657179-B2
Application number	US-201715694506-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2017
Priority date	Sep 1, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A bipartite graph structure is utilized to better store data. The bipartite graph structure may be used in a biochemical database to efficiently store a variety of molecules and processes that might occur between the molecules. Molecules are represented as molecule nodes, which may have metadata fields including a molecule name, a molecule type, a molecular formula, a sequence, a molecular charge, a set of molecular properties, and a set of component molecules. Processes operating on the molecules are represented by process nodes, which may have metadata fields including a process name, a set of process roles, a set of process properties, and a set of sub-processes. Edges, called roles, each associate a molecule node with a process node and represent the role the associated molecule plays in the associated process. The roles may contain metadata identifying the role type and the stoichiometry coefficient of the molecule in the process.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for storing biochemical information comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
a processor executing instructions to configure the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store a database structured as a bipartite graph comprising: a plurality of molecule nodes, wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes represents a molecule in a biochemical environment and wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes includes a plurality of molecule metadata fields characterizing the molecule;
a plurality of process nodes, wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes represents a process occurring in a biochemical environment, and wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes includes a plurality of process metadata fields including at least a roles field, wherein the roles field defines a set of roles of molecules in the process; and
a plurality of edges, wherein each edge of the plurality of edges associates a molecule node to a process node, and wherein each edge of the plurality of edges characterizes a role of a molecule represented by the associated molecule node in a process represented by the associated process node, wherein the edge includes the stoichiometric coefficient of the molecule in the process;
wherein, for each edge of one or more first edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a catalyst role or cofactor role and a directionality of the edge is bidirectional; wherein, for each edge of one or more second edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a reactant role and a directionality of the edge is unidirectional; and wherein the plurality of molecule nodes, the plurality of process nodes, and the plurality of edges are stored in a non-SQL graph database.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include at least a molecule composition field.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include one or more of:
a molecule name field,
a molecule type field,
a molecular formula field,
a sequence field,
a charge field,
a molecular properties field, or
a component molecules field.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein, for a particular edge of the plurality of edges, the edge characterizes multiple roles for a connected molecule node, the multiple roles including a substrate role and another role.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of molecule nodes represents a single molecule in one or more physical settings.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of process nodes represent chemical and physical processes.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions to configure a database structured as a bipartite graph comprising;
a plurality of molecule nodes, wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes represents a molecule in a biochemical environment and wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes includes a plurality of molecule metadata fields characterizing the molecule;
a plurality of process nodes, wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes represents a process occurring in a biochemical environment, and wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes includes a plurality of process metadata fields including at least a roles field, wherein the roles field defines a set of roles of molecules in the process; and
a plurality of edges, wherein each edge of the plurality of edges associates a molecule node to a process node, and wherein each edge of the plurality of edges characterizes a role of a molecule represented by the associated molecule node in a process represented by the associated process node, wherein the edge includes the stoichiometric coefficient of the molecule in the process;
wherein, for each edge of one or more first edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a catalyst role or cofactor role and a directionality of the edge is bidirectional; wherein, for each edge of one or more second edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a reactant role and a directionality of the edge is unidirectional; and wherein the plurality of molecule nodes, the plurality of process nodes, and the plurality of edges are stored in a non-SQL graph database.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include at least a molecule composition field.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include one or more of:
a molecule name field,
a molecule type field,
a molecular formula field,
a sequence field,
a charge field,
a molecular properties field, or
a component molecules field.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein, for a particular edge of the plurality of edges, the edge characterizes multiple roles for a connected molecule node, the multiple roles including a substrate role and another role.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein one or more of the plurality of molecule nodes represents a single molecule in one or more physical settings.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of process nodes represent chemical and physical processes.

13. A method comprising: configuring a database structured as a bipartite graph comprising:
a plurality of molecule nodes, wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes represents a molecule in a biochemical environment and wherein each molecule node of the plurality of molecule nodes includes a plurality of molecule metadata fields characterizing the molecule;
a plurality of process nodes, wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes represents a process occurring in a biochemical environment, and wherein each process node of the plurality of process nodes includes a plurality of process metadata fields including at least a roles field, wherein the roles field defines a set of roles of molecules in the process; and
a plurality of edges, wherein each edge of the plurality of edges associates a molecule node to a process node, and wherein each edge of the plurality of edges characterizes a role of a molecule represented by the associated molecule node in a process represented by the associated process node, wherein the edge includes the stoichiometric coefficient of the molecule in the process;
wherein, for each edge of one or more first edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a catalyst role or cofactor role and a directionality of the edge is bidirectional; wherein, for each edge of one or more second edges of the plurality of edges, the role characterized by the edge is a reactant role and a directionality of the edge is unidirectional; and wherein the plurality of molecule nodes, the plurality of process nodes, and the plurality of edges are stored in a non-SQL graph database.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include at least a molecule composition field.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the molecule metadata fields include one or more of:
a molecule name field,
a molecule type field,
a molecular formula field,
a sequence field,
a charge field,
a molecular properties field, or
a component molecules field.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein, for a particular edge of the plurality of

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Thompson Jason
• Russo Frank

Classifications

• G16C20/90

  Programming languages; Computing architectures; Database systems; Data warehousing · CPC title

• G06F16/9024 Primary

  Graphs; Linked lists (G06F16/9027 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G16B50/00

  ICT programming tools or database systems specially adapted for bioinformatics · CPC title

• G16B45/00

  ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related data visualisation, e.g. displaying of maps or networks · CPC title

• G16C10/00

  Computational theoretical chemistry, i.e. ICT specially adapted for theoretical aspects of quantum chemistry, molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics or the like · CPC title