The RefSeq eukaryotic genome annotation pipeline (EGAP) is moving to a new annotation naming format that can be used to unambiguously reference both the genome assembly and the RefSeq annotation. This will improve clarity when reporting the data you use and make the data more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). The new naming convention applies to all eukaryotic annotations released after December 15, 2022.
Historically, RefSeq EGAP has used an integer to identify a particular annotation release, such as Homo sapiens Annotation Release 110. This method provides no information on the assembly used for the annotation. In the new RefSeq naming system, annotation releases are designated by a combination of the assembly identifier (e.g., GCF_000001405.40) and an annotation name (e.g., RS_2022_04). The annotation name consists of an RS prefix to indicate RefSeq annotation, and the year and month that it was generated, RS_YYYY_MM. You should always use the annotation name in combination with the corresponding assembly accession.version, for example, GCF_026419915.1-RS_2022_12 (as shown in Figure 1). This ensures that you’re always using the name that defines a specific annotation for a specific genome assembly. If you use only part of the name, it will be ambiguous.
Figure 1. The annotation section of the Datasets Genome page for the assembly bHarHar1 for the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) showing the new annotation release GCF_026419915.1-RS_2022_12. Continue reading “Announcing New Names for Eukaryotic Genome Annotations in RefSeq!” →
RefSeq release 216 is now available online, from the FTP site, and through NCBI’s new resource, Datasets.
This full release incorporates genomic, transcript, and protein data available as of January 9, 2023, and contains 342,395,932 records, including 249,868,639 proteins, 49,869,497 RNAs, and sequences from 128,299 organisms. The release is provided in several directories as a complete dataset and also as divided by logical groupings. Continue reading “RefSeq Release 216” →