Following requests from bench scientists for a simpler version of the format for routine use, the MITAB format was developed to enable most aspects of a molecular interaction experiment to be described. The format shares usage of the PSI-MI CVs and many fields are identical to those in the XML formats, but the data is described in tab-delimited format with increasing number of columns in the different versions (MITAB2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8) allowing increased data capture. The most recent version, MITAB2.8 also referred to as CausalTAB, enables the representation and dissemination of signaling information through the description of the causality of an interaction.