Abstract

When you visit Reactome http://www.reactome.org/cgi-bin/frontpage?DB=gk_current, select “Hemostasis” from the matrix of 23 pathways to view the amazing clotting cascade. The cascade opens as a hierarchy of events with each base item presenting details of a section of the pathway with associated biochemical input and output sequences, participating molecules, preceding and following events, etc. The technique of reducing the cascade into manageable bits works well and is supported by a user guide on the top menu. The website is from a coalition of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, and the Gene Ontology Consortium, and describes itself as “A curated knowledgebase of biochemical pathways authored by biologic researchers with expertise in their field, maintained by the Reactome editorial staff.” Pathways are available for to up to 14 species, including good old Homo sapiens.