Applying FAIR Principles to Plant Phenotypic Data Management in GnpIS

GnpIS is a data repository for plant phenomics that stores whole field and greenhouse experimental data including environment measures. It allows long-term access to datasets following the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, by using a flexible and original approach. It is based on a generic and ontology driven data model and an innovative software architecture that uncouples data integration, storage, and querying. It takes advantage of international standards including the Crop Ontology, MIAPPE, and the Breeding API. GnpIS allows handling data for a wide range of species and experiment types, including multiannual perennial plants experimental network or annual plant trials with either raw data, i.e., direct measures, or computed traits. It also ensures the integration and the interoperability among phenotyping datasets and with genotyping data. This is achieved through a careful curation and annotation of the key resources conducted in close collaboration with the communities providing data. Our repository follows the Open Science data publication principles by ensuring citability of each dataset. Finally, GnpIS compliance with international standards enables its interoperability with other data repositories hence allowing data links between phenotype and other data types. GnpIS can therefore contribute to emerging international federations of information systems.

Towards an open grapevine information system

Viticulture, like other fields of agriculture, is currently facing important challenges that will be addressed only through sustained, dedicated and coordinated research. Although the methods used in biology have evolved tremendously in recent years and now involve the routine production of large data sets of varied nature, in many domains of study, including grapevine research, there is a need to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR-ness) of these data. Considering the heterogeneous nature of the data produced, the transnational nature of the scientific community and the experience gained elsewhere, we have formed an open working group, in the framework of the International Grapevine Genome Program (www.vitaceae.org), to construct a coordinated federation of information systems holding grapevine data distributed around the world, providing an integrated set of interfaces supporting advanced data modeling, rich semantic integration and the next generation of data mining tools. To achieve this goal, it will be critical to develop, implement and adopt appropriate standards for data annotation and formatting. The development of this system, the GrapeIS, linking genotypes to phenotypes, and scientific research to agronomical and oeneological data, should provide new insights into grape biology, and allow the development of new varieties to meet the challenges of biotic and abiotic stress, environmental change, and consumer demand.