Developing integrative bioinformatics systems

Manifold examples from the current biological literature describe the application of integrative analysis methods. These examples demonstrate the need for bioinformatics methods that integrate data from diverse sources and data that have heterogeneous formats. The requirements of such methods can be demonstrated through examples of applications used to analyze high-throughput data (particularly gene expression data) in combination with biological knowledge (such as functional classification and pathways). On the basis of these examples, we suggest general requirements for integrative analyses and a scenario for the development of integrative bioinformatics systems.