Biological pathway data formats and standards

High-throughput technologies have led to an explosion of biological data with a corresponding proliferation of data formats, particularly in the case of biological pathways. A lack of standardization for data representation and exchange makes it challenging to combine and integrate different resources and data types. Fortunately, over the years the community has focused on a few specialized data formats and standards that are supported by a variety of software platforms. This article provides an overview of several widely used biological pathway data formats and standards, highlighting their unique features and the domain of application for which they are best suited.