GENCODE: reference annotation for the human and mouse genomes in 2023Abstract GENCODE produces high quality gene and transcript annotation for the human and mouse genomes. All GENCODE annotation is supported by experimental data and serves as a reference for genome biology and clinical genomics. The GENCODE consortium generates targeted experimental data, develops bioinformatic tools and carries out analyses that, along with externally produced data and methods, support the identification and annotation of transcript structures and the determination of their function. Here, we present an update on the annotation of human and mouse genes, including developments in the tools, data, analyses and major collaborations which underpin this progress. For example, we report the creation of a set of non-canonical ORFs identified in GENCODE transcripts, the LRGASP collaboration to assess the use of long transcriptomic data to build transcript models, the progress in collaborations with RefSeq and UniProt to increase convergence in the annotation of human and mouse protein-coding genes, the propagation of GENCODE across the human pan-genome and the development of new tools to support annotation of regulatory features by GENCODE. Our annotation is accessible via Ensembl, the UCSC Genome Browser and https://www.gencodegenes.org.
Regulatory genomic circuitry of human disease loci by integrative epigenomicsAbstract Annotating the molecular basis of human disease remains an unsolved challenge, as 93% of disease loci are non-coding and gene-regulatory annotations are highly incomplete 1–3 . Here we present EpiMap, a compendium comprising 10,000 epigenomic maps across 800 samples, which we used to define chromatin states, high-resolution enhancers, enhancer modules, upstream regulators and downstream target genes. We used this resource to annotate 20,000 genetic loci that were associated with 232 traits 4 , predicting trait-relevant tissues, putative causal nucleotide variants in enriched tissue enhancers and candidate tissue-specific target genes for each. We partitioned multifactorial traits into tissue-specific contributing factors with distinct functional enrichments and disease comorbidity patterns, and revealed both single-factor monotropic and multifactor pleiotropic loci. Top-scoring loci frequently had multiple predicted driver variants, converging through multiple enhancers with a common target gene, multiple genes in common tissues, or multiple genes and multiple tissues, indicating extensive pleiotropy. Our results demonstrate the importance of dense, rich, high-resolution epigenomic annotations for the investigation of complex traits.
Human microglial state dynamics in Alzheimer’s disease progressionGENCODE 2025: reference gene annotation for human and mouseGENCODE produces comprehensive reference gene annotation for human and mouse. Entering its twentieth year, the project remains highly active as new technologies and methodologies allow us to catalog the genome at ever-increasing granularity. In particular, long-read transcriptome sequencing enables us to identify large numbers of missing transcripts and to substantially improve existing models, and our long non-coding RNA catalogs have undergone a dramatic expansion and reconfiguration as a result. Meanwhile, we are incorporating data from state-of-the-art proteomics and Ribo-seq experiments to fine-tune our annotation of translated sequences, while further insights into function can be gained from multi-genome alignments that grow richer as more species' genomes are sequenced. Such methodologies are combined into a fully integrated annotation workflow. However, the increasing complexity of our resources can present usability challenges, and we are resolving these with the creation of filtered genesets such as MANE Select and GENCODE Primary. The next challenge is to propagate annotations throughout multiple human and mouse genomes, as we enter the pangenome era. Our resources are freely available at our web portal www.gencodegenes.org, and via the Ensembl and UCSC genome browsers.
Single-cell multiregion dissection of Alzheimer’s disease. Here we report a single-cell transcriptomic atlas of six different brain regions in the aged human brain, covering 1.3 million cells from 283 post-mortem human brain samples across 48 individuals with and without Alzheimer's disease. We identify 76 cell types, including region-specific subtypes of astrocytes and excitatory neurons and an inhibitory interneuron population unique to the thalamus and distinct from canonical inhibitory subclasses. We identify vulnerable populations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons that are depleted in specific brain regions in Alzheimer's disease, and provide evidence that the Reelin signalling pathway is involved in modulating the vulnerability of these neurons. We develop a scalable method for discovering gene modules, which we use to identify cell-type-specific and region-specific modules that are altered in Alzheimer's disease and to annotate transcriptomic differences associated with diverse pathological variables. We identify an astrocyte program that is associated with cognitive resilience to Alzheimer's disease pathology, tying choline metabolism and polyamine biosynthesis in astrocytes to preserved cognitive function late in life. Together, our study develops a regional atlas of the ageing human brain and provides insights into cellular vulnerability, response and resilience to Alzheimer's disease pathology.