Exploring the Landscape of the Genome

Genome browsers are powerful tools for biologists - offering fundamental information on genes, regulatory elements, genomic variants, genome structure, and evolution. The comprehensive range of information presented in tools such as the UCSC genome browser and Ensembl enables integrated queries of data that are otherwise reserved to the most skilled computational biologists. However, for the non-specialist user, the juxtaposition of so many different forms of data in one small space can be an information overload. Getting the most out of these tools requires some understanding of the key concepts and caveats of genome visualization and annotation. Genome analysis can be carried out at different levels of detail - at a macro level; it improves understanding of issues like genome structure and species evolution. While at a micro level, genome annotation can help to describe the full complexity of gene regulation, variation, and transcript diversity. Once demystified, it is clear that genome browsers are more than the sum of their parts - they are the most comprehensive portals available for browsing and analysis of biological data.