Problem
The Reactome Chatbot currently handles keyword-based queries well,
but fails on mechanistic questions like:
- "What happens after protein phosphorylation?"
- "What are the downstream consequences of BRCA1 mutation?"
- "What reaction precedes ATP synthesis in glycolysis?"
Standard RAG retrieves relevant snippets but cannot reason about
order, causality, or sequence within biological pathways. The
chatbot either hallucinates a causal chain or gives a generic
non-answer.
Proposed Solution
Implement a Topological Flow Reasoning layer that:
- Detects mechanistic intent keywords (
downstream, after,
consequence, precedes, triggers)
- Fetches structured reaction participants and ordering from the
Reactome Content Service API
- Verifies the extracted causal chain against the Reactome Graph
before returning an answer
Feature Overview
ReactomeTopologyTool — retrieval tool that fetches reaction
participants and preceding/subsequent events via the Reactome API
FlowReasoner task node — curator-level reasoning prompt that
treats Reactome Graph data as ground truth for biological sequences
- Intent-based routing —
CrossDatabaseGraphBuilder detects flow
keywords and invokes the verification stack automatically
Why This Matters
Standard RAG treats all retrieved text equally. Biological pathways
have strict causal ordering — getting the sequence wrong produces
answers that are fluent but scientifically incorrect. This feature
makes the chatbot verifiably correct on mechanistic queries, not just
plausible-sounding.
Implementation Scope
src/tools/reactome_topology.py — new topology retrieval tool
src/agent/tasks/flow_reasoner.py — new reasoning task node
src/agent/profiles/cross_database.py — agent graph integration
tests/test_flow_reasoning.py — integration tests
Problem
The Reactome Chatbot currently handles keyword-based queries well,
but fails on mechanistic questions like:
Standard RAG retrieves relevant snippets but cannot reason about
order, causality, or sequence within biological pathways. The
chatbot either hallucinates a causal chain or gives a generic
non-answer.
Proposed Solution
Implement a Topological Flow Reasoning layer that:
downstream,after,consequence,precedes,triggers)Reactome Content Service API
before returning an answer
Feature Overview
ReactomeTopologyTool— retrieval tool that fetches reactionparticipants and preceding/subsequent events via the Reactome API
FlowReasonertask node — curator-level reasoning prompt thattreats Reactome Graph data as ground truth for biological sequences
CrossDatabaseGraphBuilderdetects flowkeywords and invokes the verification stack automatically
Why This Matters
Standard RAG treats all retrieved text equally. Biological pathways
have strict causal ordering — getting the sequence wrong produces
answers that are fluent but scientifically incorrect. This feature
makes the chatbot verifiably correct on mechanistic queries, not just
plausible-sounding.
Implementation Scope
src/tools/reactome_topology.py— new topology retrieval toolsrc/agent/tasks/flow_reasoner.py— new reasoning task nodesrc/agent/profiles/cross_database.py— agent graph integrationtests/test_flow_reasoning.py— integration tests