identifier: METPO:1000186
label: material entity
definition: An object or portion of a substance or mixture of substances that consists
  of matter
definition_source: DOI:10.3233/AO-220262
trait_category: UPPER
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: REVIEWED
created_by: Anthea Guo
evidence:
- reference: DOI:10.3233/AO-220262
  snippet: BFO is a genuine top-level ontology
  notes: Supports material entity as a top-level ontology class rather than a concrete
    microbial trait.
- reference: DOI:10.7551/mitpress/9780262527811.001.0001
  snippet: specific top-level ontology, the Basic Formal Ontology
  notes: Supports BFO as the upper ontology context for material entity.
causal_graphs:
- graph_id: material_entity_bfo_upper_context
  title: Material entity upper-class context
  description: DOI-backed upper-ontology context graph linking material entities to
    qualities, observations, and processes without asserting a taxon-specific microbial
    mechanism.
  nodes:
  - node_id: material_entity_trait
    label: material entity
    node_type: TRAIT
    grounding: METPO:1000186
    xrefs:
    - BFO:0000040
    description: Upper-level class for objects or portions of matter.
  - node_id: quality_trait
    label: quality
    node_type: TRAIT
    grounding: METPO:1000188
    description: Dependent characteristic borne by an entity.
  - node_id: observation_trait
    label: observation
    node_type: EXPERIMENTAL_FACTOR
    grounding: METPO:1001000
    description: Measurement or data-collection context about an entity or its qualities.
  - node_id: biological_process_trait
    label: biological process
    node_type: BIOLOGICAL_PROCESS
    grounding: METPO:1000630
    description: Process in which material entities can participate.
  edges:
  - subject: material_entity_trait
    predicate: can bear
    object: quality_trait
    description: Material entities provide bearers for qualities used in trait descriptions.
    evidence:
    - reference: DOI:10.1186/gb-2010-11-1-r2
      snippet: entity that is observed to be affected
      notes: Supports the entity-quality pattern in phenotype representation.
  - subject: observation_trait
    predicate: can be about
    object: material_entity_trait
    description: Observations and investigation outputs can be about material entities
      and their qualities.
    evidence:
    - reference: DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0154556
      snippet: results of a study can be about any material entity
      notes: Supports material entities as subjects of biomedical investigation data.
  - subject: material_entity_trait
    predicate: can participate in
    object: biological_process_trait
    description: Material entities can participate in biological processes, but this
      upper record has no direct TraitMech children.
    evidence:
    - reference: DOI:10.3233/AO-220262
      snippet: support information integration, retrieval, and analysis
      notes: Supports BFO as the upper ontology used to place material entities in
        scientific-domain representations.
    predicate_id: biolink:participates_in
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-05-05T01:35:46.811703+00:00'
  curator: seed_from_metpo
  action: SEEDED_FROM_METPO
  changes: imported from data/raw/metpo.owl (CLASS)
  llm_assisted: false
- timestamp: '2026-05-15T00:35:00-07:00'
  curator: codex
  action: CURATED_UPPER_CONTEXT
  changes: Reviewed material entity as an upper classifier and added a DOI-backed
    context graph; no direct TraitMech children were present.
  llm_assisted: true
- timestamp: '2026-06-13T21:03:27Z'
  curator: claude
  action: GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES
  changes: Grounded 1 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv
    (biolink:participates_in×1).
  llm_assisted: true