VEGA Genome Browser

VEGA displays all of the manual annotation from the HAVANA team.

The Vertebrate Genome Annotation (VEGA) database is built on the Ensembl database, which displays computationally curated sequences for a large number of vertebrate and invertebrate species.

Archive Page

This page is maintained as a historical record and is no longer being updated.

In contrast to the automatically generated annotation in Ensembl, the sequence annotation stored in VEGA was the result of manual annotation led by the Wellcome Sanger Institute’s HAVANA group and also displays manual annotation from other sequencing centres. The HAVANA and VEGA projects were led by Jen Harrow.

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VEGA was established in 2004 to provide a browser for viewing high-quality manual annotation of human and other vertebrate finished genomic sequences. High-quality annotation of the kind stored in the VEGA database provides an invaluable and reliable reference resource that can be used by researchers worldwide to predict gene structures on low-coverage genomes from other vertebrate species.

The HAVANA group is manually annotating the entire human genome and those of mouse and zebrafish (model organisms). This information is available via the VEGA browser and contains full manual annotation for 21 of the 24 human chromosomes. This work will be finished as part of the ENCODE project. Annotation of the mouse genome is being carried out as part of the mouse knockout project (EUCOMM/KOMP/NORCOMM), while annotation of the whole zebrafish genome is being conducted in collaboration with Zfin.

Because of their importance in the function of the immune system and autoimmunity, the Major Histocompatability Complex (MHC) regions of the gorilla, wallaby, pig and dog have also been manually annotated.

VEGA data are made freely and publicly available to all. Registered users are also able to save information, and customise the workspace shared with their groups.

Annotations displayed in VEGA are mirrored in the Ensembl database – provided the assemblies in the two databases are consistent.

VEGA can be accessed here: http://vega.archive.ensembl.org/