What is Ensembl?

Ensembl provides a genome browser that acts as a single point of access to annotated genomes, primarily for vertebrate species (Figure 1).

Information such as gene sequence, splice variants and further annotation can be retrieved at the genome, gene and protein level. This includes information on protein domains, genetic variation, homology, syntenic regions and regulatory elements. Coupled with analyses such as whole genome alignments and the effects of sequence variation on proteins, this powerful tool aims to describe a gene or genomic region in detail.

Ensembl imports genome sequences from consortia, which is consistent with many other bioinformatics projects. Each species in Ensembl has its own homepage, where you can find out who provided the genome sequence and which version of the genome assembly is represented. To see an example, visit the Ensembl home page for human.