The Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium aims to develop a dynamic, controlled vocabulary for describing the roles of genes and gene products in all eukaryotes. This initiative addresses the need for a common language to facilitate the transfer of biological annotations between different organisms, given the high degree of sequence and functional conservation among eukaryotic species. The GO Consortium is constructing three independent ontologies: Biological Process, Molecular Function, and Cellular Component. These ontologies are designed to be flexible, dynamic, and precise, allowing for updates as new knowledge becomes available. The ontologies are linked to other gene and protein keyword databases and are being integrated into various genome databases. Examples of GO annotations, such as DNA metabolism, molecular function of MCM protein complex members, and cellular component of these proteins, illustrate the utility of the ontologies in annotating gene sequences and gene expression data. The GO project is currently using a flat file format to store the ontologies and is expected to continue evolving to support the grand unification of biology.The Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium aims to develop a dynamic, controlled vocabulary for describing the roles of genes and gene products in all eukaryotes. This initiative addresses the need for a common language to facilitate the transfer of biological annotations between different organisms, given the high degree of sequence and functional conservation among eukaryotic species. The GO Consortium is constructing three independent ontologies: Biological Process, Molecular Function, and Cellular Component. These ontologies are designed to be flexible, dynamic, and precise, allowing for updates as new knowledge becomes available. The ontologies are linked to other gene and protein keyword databases and are being integrated into various genome databases. Examples of GO annotations, such as DNA metabolism, molecular function of MCM protein complex members, and cellular component of these proteins, illustrate the utility of the ontologies in annotating gene sequences and gene expression data. The GO project is currently using a flat file format to store the ontologies and is expected to continue evolving to support the grand unification of biology.