Gene Ontology (GO) is the largest genetic bioinformatic resource in the world. Their computational program describes three different aspects of genes in a manner that can be understood by humans and computers.
What Are the Three Genetic Description Categories? [1]
Biological Process: A description of the collective action carried out by a system of multiple genes working together. Cellular Component: A description of which cellular structures the gene product is near while performing a function. Molecular Function: A description of the specific molecular-level activity an individual gene is responsible for.
PTK7 GO [2,3]
Biological process: PTK7 is involved in the Wnt activated planar cell polarity pathway. Cellular Component: PTK7 is localized near the cell membrane. Being near the cell membrane allows PTK7 to be an active participant in coreceptor signaling during the development of cell polarity. Molecular Function: As one might expect, PTK7 is responsible for "protein tyrosine kinase activity." More specifically, that means that PTK7 is a catalyst for the removal of phosphate groups from high energy molecules such as ATP.
Conclusion [4]
Gene ontology has the potential to further are understanding of PTK7's specific functions in the cell. For example, it is useful to know that PTK7 is localized near the membrane. The figure above shows the Wnt signalling pathway. PTK7 plays a role in the canonical pathway by stabilizing B-catenin at the membrane which allows the pathway to be transcriptionally activated after stimulation from Wnt3a. It remains unclear whether or not PTK7 interacts with Dsh in the non canonical pathway, or perhaps PTK7 interacts with other receptors on the membrane to catalyze enzymatic activity. The uncertainties are marked by gray question marks in the figure. These are areas that could be studied in the future to clarify the entirety of PTK7's role in the Wnt signaling planar cell polarity pathway.