One of the current problems with gene and genome annotation is a lack of transparency with respect to source. It is often difficult to determine which functions have been determined experimentally and which are predicted computationally. Furthermore, for computationally predicted functions, the method used to make the prediction and the strength of the evidence are rarely stated. COMBREX has taken the first steps toward a more transparent system of annotation by (1) color-coding genes to distinguish observed from predicted functions, and (2) for many functions predicted by sequence similarity, identifying the experimentally validated "source gene" on which the prediction was based.
