The University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu) offers online public access to a growing database of genomic sequence and annotations for a large collection of organisms, primarily vertebrates, with an emphasis on the human and mouse genomes. The Browser's web-based tools provide an integrated environment for visualizing, comparing, analysing and sharing both publicly available and user-generated genomic data sets. As of September 2013, the database contained genomic sequence and a basic set of annotation 'tracks' for ∼90 organisms. Significant new annotations include a 60-species multiple alignment conservation track on the mouse, updated UCSC Genes tracks for human and mouse, and several new sets of variation and ENCODE data. New software tools include a Variant Annotation Integrator that returns predicted functional effects of a set of variants uploaded as a custom track, an extension to UCSC Genes that displays haplotype alleles for protein-coding genes and an expansion of data hubs that includes the capability to display remotely hosted user-provided assembly sequence in addition to annotation data. To improve European access, we have added a Genome Browser mirror (http://genome-euro.ucsc.edu) hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany.

The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser (https://genome-cancer.ucsc.edu) offers interactive visualization and exploration of TCGA genomic, phenotypic, and clinical data, as produced by the Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Researchers can explore the impact of genomic alterations on phenotypes by visualizing gene and protein expression, copy number, DNA methylation, somatic mutation and pathway inference data alongside clinical features, Pan-Cancer subtype classifications and genomic biomarkers. Integrated Kaplan-Meier survival analysis helps investigators to assess survival stratification by any of the information.

Most genes in human, mouse and rat produce more than one transcript isoform. The Affymetrix Exon Array is a tool for studying the many processes that regulate RNA production, with separate probesets measuring RNA levels at known and putative exons. For insights on how exons levels vary between normal tissues, we constructed the Affy Exon Tissues track from tissue data published by Affymetrix. This track reports exon probeset intensities as log ratios relative to median values across the dataset and renders them as colored heat maps, to yield quick visual identification of exons with intensities that vary between normal tissues.

Genetic tests of the cancer predisposition genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 inform significant clinical decisions for both physicians and patients. Most uncovered variants are benign, and determining which few are pathogenic (disease-causing) is sometimes challenging and can potentially be inconsistent among laboratories. The ClinVar database makes de-identified clinical variant classifications from multiple laboratories publicly available for comparison and review, per recommendations of the American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), the National Society for Genetic Counselors (NSGC), and other organizations.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a common muscle disease whose molecular pathogenesis remains largely unknown. Over-expression of FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1) in mice, frogs, and worms perturbs muscle development and causes FSHD-like phenotypes. FRG1 has been implicated in splicing, and we asked how splicing might be involved in FSHD by conducting a genome-wide analysis in FRG1 mice. We find that splicing perturbations parallel the responses of different muscles to FRG1 over-expression and disease progression. Interestingly, binding sites for the Rbfox family of splicing factors are over-represented in a subset of FRG1-affected splicing events. Rbfox1 knockdown, over-expression, and RNA-IP confirm that these are direct Rbfox1 targets. We find that FRG1 is associated to the Rbfox1 RNA and decreases its stability. Consistent with this, Rbfox1 expression is down-regulated in mice and cells over-expressing FRG1 as well as in FSHD patients. Among the genes affected is Calpain 3, which is mutated in limb girdle muscular dystrophy, a disease phenotypically similar to FSHD. In FRG1 mice and FSHD patients, the Calpain 3 isoform lacking exon 6 (Capn3 E6-) is increased. Finally, Rbfox1 knockdown and over-expression of Capn3 E6- inhibit muscle differentiation. Collectively, our results suggest that a component of FSHD pathogenesis may arise by over-expression of FRG1, reducing Rbfox1 levels and leading to aberrant expression of an altered Calpain 3 protein through dysregulated splicing.

The laboratory mouse shares the majority of its protein-coding genes with humans, making it the premier model organism in biomedical research, yet the two mammals differ in significant ways. To gain greater insights into both shared and species-specific transcriptional and cellular regulatory programs in the mouse, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium has mapped transcription, DNase I hypersensitivity, transcription factor binding, chromatin modifications and replication domains throughout the mouse genome in diverse cell and tissue types. By comparing with the human genome, we not only confirm substantial conservation in the newly annotated potential functional sequences, but also find a large degree of divergence of sequences involved in transcriptional regulation, chromatin state and higher order chromatin organization. Our results illuminate the wide range of evolutionary forces acting on genes and their regulatory regions, and provide a general resource for research into mammalian biology and mechanisms of human diseases.

Salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) is one of the most aggressive subtypes of salivary gland cancers. Conventional chemotherapy and/or radiation have shown only limited clinical efficacy in the treatment of recurrent or metastatic SDC. Currently, clinically approved targeted-therapeutics are not generally applicable except in very limited cases, and there exists a strong need for the development of treatment against this unique tumor type. To further interrogate genomic features of SDC, we have conducted multi-omic profiling of the SDC to describe the genomic alterations prevalent in this disease. Whole-genome sequencing, whole exome-sequencing and transcriptome sequencing were performed on a discovery cohort of 10 SDC samples. Targeted genomic profiling was performed in additional 32 SDC samples to support the findings obtained from the original discovery cohort. The cancer cohort was characterized by an average mutation burden of 85 somatic exonic mutations per tumor sample. The cohort harbored a mutational signature of BRCA and APOBEC/AID. Several genes, including TP53, RB1, SMAD4, HRAS, APC, PIK3CA and GNAQ were recurrently somatically altered in SDC. A novel fusion gene, generated by genomic rearrangement, MYB-NHSL1, was also noted. Our findings represent a significant layer in the systematic understanding of potentially clinically useful genomic and molecular targets for a subset of recurrent/metastatic SDC.

The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser (https://genome-cancer.ucsc.edu/) is a web-based application that integrates relevant data, analysis and visualization, allowing users to easily discover and share their research observations. Users can explore the relationship between genomic alterations and phenotypes by visualizing various -omic data alongside clinical and phenotypic features, such as age, subtype classifications and genomic biomarkers. The Cancer Genomics Browser currently hosts 575 public datasets from genome-wide analyses of over 227,000 samples, including datasets from TCGA, CCLE, Connectivity Map and TARGET. Users can download and upload clinical data, generate Kaplan-Meier plots dynamically, export data directly to Galaxy for analysis, plus generate URL bookmarks of specific views of the data to share with others.

The University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu) offers online access to a database of genomic sequence and annotation data for a wide variety of organisms. The Browser also has many tools for visualizing, comparing and analyzing both publicly available and user-generated genomic data sets, aligning sequences and uploading user data. Among the features released this year are a gene search tool and annotation track drag-reorder functionality as well as support for BAM and BigWig/BigBed file formats. New display enhancements include overlay of multiple wiggle tracks through use of transparent coloring, options for displaying transformed wiggle data, a 'mean+whiskers' windowing function for display of wiggle data at high zoom levels, and more color schemes for microarray data. New data highlights include seven new genome assemblies, a Neandertal genome data portal, phenotype and disease association data, a human RNA editing track, and a zebrafish Conservation track. We also describe updates to existing tracks.

The ENCODE project is an international consortium with a goal of cataloguing all the functional elements in the human genome. The ENCODE Data Coordination Center (DCC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz serves as the central repository for ENCODE data. In this role, the DCC offers a collection of high-throughput, genome-wide data generated with technologies such as ChIP-Seq, RNA-Seq, DNA digestion and others. This data helps illuminate transcription factor-binding sites, histone marks, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation, RNA expression, RNA binding and other cell-state indicators. It includes sequences with quality scores, alignments, signals calculated from the alignments, and in most cases, element or peak calls calculated from the signal data. Each data set is available for visualization and download via the UCSC Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu/). ENCODE data can also be retrieved using a metadata system that captures the experimental parameters of each assay. The ENCODE web portal at UCSC (http://encodeproject.org/) provides information about the ENCODE data and links for access.

Alternative splicing contributes to both gene regulation and protein diversity. To discover broad relationships between regulation of alternative splicing and sequence conservation, we applied a systems approach, using oligonucleotide microarrays designed to capture splicing information across the mouse genome. In a set of 22 adult tissues, we observe differential expression of RNA containing at least two alternative splice junctions for about 40% of the 6,216 alternative events we could detect. Statistical comparisons identify 171 cassette exons whose inclusion or skipping is different in brain relative to other tissues and another 28 exons whose splicing is different in muscle. A subset of these exons is associated with unusual blocks of intron sequence whose conservation in vertebrates rivals that of protein-coding exons. By focusing on sets of exons with similar regulatory patterns, we have identified new sequence motifs implicated in brain and muscle splicing regulation. Of note is a motif that is strikingly similar to the branchpoint consensus but is located downstream of the 5' splice site of exons included in muscle. Analysis of three paralogous membrane-associated guanylate kinase genes reveals that each contains a paralogous tissue-regulated exon with a similar tissue inclusion pattern. While the intron sequences flanking these exons remain highly conserved among mammalian orthologs, the paralogous flanking intron sequences have diverged considerably, suggesting unusually complex evolution of the regulation of alternative splicing in multigene families.

The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser (https://genome-cancer.ucsc.edu/) is a set of web-based tools to display, investigate and analyse cancer genomics data and its associated clinical information. The browser provides whole-genome to base-pair level views of several different types of genomics data, including some next-generation sequencing platforms. The ability to view multiple datasets together allows users to make comparisons across different data and cancer types. Biological pathways, collections of genes, genomic or clinical information can be used to sort, aggregate and zoom into a group of samples. We currently display an expanding set of data from various sources, including 201 datasets from 22 TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) cancers as well as data from Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia and Stand Up To Cancer. New features include a completely redesigned user interface with an interactive tutorial and updated documentation. We have also added data downloads, additional clinical heatmap features, and an updated Tumor Image Browser based on Google Maps. New security features allow authenticated users access to private datasets hosted by several different consortia through the public website.

To complement the human Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project and to enable a broad range of mouse genomics efforts, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium is applying the same experimental pipelines developed for human ENCODE to annotate the mouse genome.

The BRCA Challenge is a long-term data-sharing project initiated within the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) to aggregate BRCA1 and BRCA2 data to support highly collaborative research activities. Its goal is to generate an informed and current understanding of the impact of genetic variation on cancer risk across the iconic cancer predisposition genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Initially, reported variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2 available from public databases were integrated into a single, newly created site, www.brcaexchange.org. The purpose of the BRCA Exchange is to provide the community with a reliable and easily accessible record of variants interpreted for a high-penetrance phenotype. More than 20,000 variants have been aggregated, three times the number found in the next-largest public database at the project's outset, of which approximately 7,250 have expert classifications. The data set is based on shared information from existing clinical databases-Breast Cancer Information Core (BIC), ClinVar, and the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD)-as well as population databases, all linked to a single point of access. The BRCA Challenge has brought together the existing international Evidence-based Network for the Interpretation of Germline Mutant Alleles (ENIGMA) consortium expert panel, along with expert clinicians, diagnosticians, researchers, and database providers, all with a common goal of advancing our understanding of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variation. Ongoing work includes direct contact with national centers with access to BRCA1 and BRCA2 diagnostic data to encourage data sharing, development of methods suitable for extraction of genetic variation at the level of individual laboratory reports, and engagement with participant communities to enable a more comprehensive understanding of the clinical significance of genetic variation in BRCA1 and BRCA2.

The Cancer Genomics Hub (CGHub) is the online repository of the sequencing programs of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including The Cancer Genomics Atlas (TCGA), the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and the Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) projects, with data from 25 different types of cancer. The CGHub currently contains >1.4 PB of data, has grown at an average rate of 50 TB a month and serves >100 TB per week. The architecture of CGHub is designed to support bulk searching and downloading through a Web-accessible application programming interface, enforce patient genome confidentiality in data storage and transmission and optimize for efficiency in access and transfer. In this article, we describe the design of these three components, present performance results for our transfer protocol, GeneTorrent, and finally report on the growth of the system in terms of data stored and transferred, including estimated limits on the current architecture. Our experienced-based estimates suggest that centralizing storage and computational resources is more efficient than wide distribution across many satellite labs. Database URL: https://cghub.ucsc.edu.

The UCSC Genome Browser (https://genome.ucsc.edu) is a web-based genomic visualization and analysis tool that serves data to over 7,000 distinct users per day worldwide. It provides annotation data on thousands of genome assemblies, ranging from human to SARS-CoV2. This year, we have introduced new data from the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium and on viral genomes including SARS-CoV2. We have added 1,200 new genomes to our GenArk genome system, increasing the overall diversity of our genomic representation. We have added support for nine new user-contributed track hubs to our public hub system. Additionally, we have released 29 new tracks on the human genome and 11 new tracks on the mouse genome. Collectively, these new features expand both the breadth and depth of the genomic knowledge that we share publicly with users worldwide.