Ontological representations of qualities, dispositions, and roles have been refined over the past decade, clarifying subtle distinctions in life science research. After articulating a widely-used characterization of these entities within the context of Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), we identify gaps in this treatment and motivate the need for supplementing the BFO characterization. By way of supplement, we propose definitions for grounding relations holding between qualities and dispositions, and dispositions and roles, illustrating our proposal by representing subtle aspects of host-pathogen interactions.

翻译：关于性质、倾向和角色的本体论表征在过去十年中得到了完善，厘清了生命科学研究中的细微区别。在阐述基本形式本体论（BFO）背景下对这些实体的广泛使用的描述后，我们识别出该处理中的空白，并论证了补充BFO表征的必要性。作为补充，我们提出了性质与倾向之间、倾向与角色之间的基础化关系的定义，并通过描述宿主-病原体相互作用的细微方面来说明我们的提议。