G-compass: a web-based comparative genome browser between human and other vertebrate genomes.

Abstract

G-compass is designed for efficient comparative genome analysis between human and other vertebrate genomes. The current version of G-compass allows us to browse two corresponding genomic regions between human and another species in parallel. One-to-one evolutionarily conserved regions (i.e. orthologous regions) between species are highlighted along the genomes. Information such as locations of duplicated regions, copy number variations and mammalian ultra-conserved elements is also provided. These features of G-compass enable us to easily determine patterns of genomic rearrangements and changes in gene orders through evolutionary time. Since G-compass is a satellite database of H-InvDB, which is a comprehensive annotation resource for human genes and transcripts, users can easily refer to manually curated functional annotations and other abundant biological information for each human transcript. G-compass is expected to be a valuable tool for comparing human and model organisms and promoting the exchange of functional information. G-compass is freely available at http://www.h-invitational.jp/g-compass/. t.imanishi@aist.go.jp