July 13, 2015
A survey was published in BMC Bioinformatics of databases that enable the visual analysis of protein networks in order to understand the biological networks based on protein-protein interactions. The authors selected 10 out of 53 resources that “support visualisation and tested against interoperability, data integration, quantity of possible interactions, data visualization quality and data coverage.” The study reveals differences in usability, visualisation features and quality, as well as the quantity of interactions, recommending StringDB as the first choice, CPDB as a comprehensive dataset and IntAct with a user-friendly network layout. The authors have made available a comprehensive comparison table via web which can be accessed on http://tinyurl.com/PPI-DB-Comparison-2015.
According the authors, the study results underline the necessity for further enhancements of visualisation integration in biochemical analysis tools. They have also identified challenges such as data comprehensiveness, confidence, interactive feature and visualisation maturing.