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EnsEMBL Core Schema Documentation

Introduction

This document gives a high-level description of the tables that make up the EnsEMBL core schema. Tables are grouped into logical groups, and the purpose of each table is explained. It is intended to allow people to familiarise themselves with the schema when encountering it for the first time, or when they need to use some tables that they've not used before. Note that while some of the more important columns in some of the tables are discussed, this document makes no attempt to enumerate all of the names, types and contents of every single table. Some concepts which are referred to in the table descriptions are given at the end of this document; these are linked to from the table description where appropriate.

Different tables are populated throughout the gene build process:

Step Process
0 Create empty schema, populate meta table
1 Load DNA - populates dna, clone, contig, chromosome, assembly tables
2 Analyze DNA (raw computes) - populates genomic feature/analysis tables
3 Build genes - populates exon, transcript,etc. gene-related tables
4a Analyze genes - populate protein_feature, xref tables, interpro
4b ID mapping

This document refers to version 49 of the EnsEMBL core schema.


Quick links to tables:

Fundamental tables

Features and analyses

ID Mapping (Tables involved in mapping identifiers between releases)

Exernal references (Tables used for storing links to and details about objects that are stored in other databases)

Miscellaneous (Tables that don't fit anywhere else.)


Fundamental tables

seq_region

Stores information about sequence regions. The primary key is used as a pointer into the dna table so that actual sequence can be obtained, and the coord_system_id allows sequence regions of multiple types to be stored. Clones, contigs and chromosomes are all now stored in the seq_region table. Contigs are stored with the co-ordinate system 'contig'. The relationship between contigs and clones is stored in the assembly table. The relationships between contigs and chromosomes, and between contigs and supercontigs, are stored in the assembly table.

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coord_system

Stores information about the available co-ordinate systems for this species. Note that there must be one co-ordinate system that has the attribute "top_level" and one that has the attribute "sequence_level".

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seq_region_attrib

Allows "attributes" to be defined for certain seq_regions. Provides a way of storing extra information about particular seq_regions without adding extra columns to the seq_region table. e.g.

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attrib_type

Provides codes, names and desctriptions of attribute types.

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dna

Contains DNA sequence. This table has a 1:1 relationship with the contig table.

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dnac

Stores compressed DNA sequence.

assembly

The assembly table states, which parts of seq_regions are exactly equal. It enables to transform coordinates between seq_regions. Typically this contains how chromosomes are made of contigs, clones out of contigs, and chromosomes out of supercontigs. It allows you to artificially chunk chromosome sequence into smaller parts.

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assembly_exception

Allows multiple sequence regions to point to the same sequence, analogous to a symbolic link in a filesystem pointing to the actual file. This mechanism has been implemented specifically to support haplotypes and PARs, but may be useful for other similar structures in the future.

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karyotype

Describes bands that can be stained on the chromosome.

exon

Stores data about exons. Associated with transcripts via exon_transcript. Allows access to contigsseq_regions.

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exon_stable_id

Relates exon IDs in this release to release-independent stable identifiers.

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transcript

Stores information about transcripts. Has seq_region_start, seq_region_end and seq_region_strand for faster retrieval and to allow storage independently of genes and exons. Note that a transcript is usually associated with a translation, but may not be, e.g. in the case of pseudogenes and RNA genes (those that code for RNA molecules).

transcript_stable_id

Relates transcript IDs in this release to release-independent stable identifiers.

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transcript_attrib

Enables storage of attributes that relate to transcripts.

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translation_attrib

Enables storage of attributes that relate to translations.

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exon_transcript

Relationship table linking exons with transcripts. The rank column ndicates the 5' to 3' position of the exon within the transcript, i.e. a rank of 1 means the exon is the 5' most within this transcript.

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gene

Allows transcripts to be related to genes.

gene_stable_id

Relates gene IDs in this release to release-independent stable identifiers.

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translation

Describes which parts of which exons are used in translation. The seq_start and seq_end columns are 1-based offsets into the *relative* coordinate system of start_exon_id and end_exon_id. i.e, if the translation starts at the first base of the exon, seq_start would be 1. Transcripts are related to translations by the transcript_id key in this table.

translation_stable_id

Relates translation IDs in this release to release-independent stable identifiers.

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supporting_feature

Describes the exon prediction process by linking exons to DNA or protein alignment features. As in several other tables, the feature_id column is a foreign key; the feature_type column specifies which table feature_id refers to.

prediction_transcript

Stores transcripts that are predicted by ab initio gene finder programs (e.g. genscan, SNAP). Unlike EnsEMBL transcripts they are not supported by any evidence.

prediction_exon

Stores exons that are predicted by ab initio gene finder programs. Unlike EnsEMBL exons they are not supported by any evidence.

meta

Stores data about the data in the current schema. Taxonomy information, version information and the default value for the type column in the assembly table are stored here. Unlike other tables, data in the meta table is stored as key/value pairs. Also stores (via assembly.mapping keys) the relationships between co-ordinate systms in the assembly table.

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meta_coord

Describes which co-ordinate systems the different feature tables use.

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Features and analyses

analysis

Usually describes a program and some database that together are used to create a feature on a piece of sequence. Each feature is marked with an analysis_id. The most important column is logic_name, which is used by the webteam to render a feature correctly on contigview (or even retrieve the right feature). Logic_name is also used in the pipeline to identify the analysis which has to run in a given status of the pipeline. The module column tells the pipeline which Perl module does the whole analysis, typically a RunnableDB module.

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analysis_description

Allows the storage of a textual description of the analysis, as well as a "display label", primarily for the Ensembl web site.

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dna_align_feature

Stores DNA sequence alignments generated from Blast (or Blast-like) comparisons.

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protein_align_feature

Stores translation alignments generated from Blast (or Blast-like) comparisons.

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repeat_feature

Describes sequence repeat regions.

marker_feature

Used to describe marker positions.

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qtl_feature

Describes Quantitative Trail Loci (QTL) positions as obtained from inbreeding experiments. Note the values in this table are in chromosomal co-ordinates. Also, this table is not populated all schemas.

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prediction_transcript

Stores information about ab initio gene transcript predictions.

simple_feature

Describes general genomic features that don't fit into any of the more specific feature tables.

protein_feature

Describes features on the translations (as opposed to the DNA sequence itself), i.e. parts of the peptide. In peptide co-ordinates rather than contig co-ordinates.

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density_feature

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density_type

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qtl

Describes the markers (of which there may be up to three) which define Quantitative Trait Loci. Note that QTL is a statistical technique used to find links between certain expressed traits and regions in a genetic map.

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qtl_synonym

Describes alternative names for Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs).

marker

Stores data about the marker itself - e.g. the primer sequences used.

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marker_map_location

Allows storage of information about the postion of a marker - these are positions on genetic or radiation hybrid maps (as opposed to positions on the assembly, which EnsEMBL has determined and which are stored in marker_feature).

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marker_synonym

Stores alternative names for markers, as well as their sources.

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map

Stores the names of different genetic or radiation hybrid maps, for which there is marker map information.

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repeat_consensus

Stores consenus sequences obtained from analysing repeat features.

misc_feature

Alllows for storage of arbitrary features.

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misc_attrib

Stores arbitrary attributes about the features in the misc_feature table.

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misc_set

Defines "sets" that the features held in the misc_feature table can be grouped into.

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misc_feature_misc_set

Defines which of the features in misc_feature are in which of the sets defined in misc_set

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alt_allele

Stores information about genes on haplotypes that may be orthologous.


ID Mapping

Tables involved in mapping identifiers between releases

mapping_session

Stores details of ID mapping sessions - a mapping session represents the session when stable IDs where mapped from one database to another. Details of the "old" and "new" databases are stored.

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stable_id_event

Represents what happened to all gene, transcript and translation stable IDs during a mapping session. This includes which IDs where deleted, created and related to each other. Each event is represented by one or more rows in the table.

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gene_archive

Contains a snapshot of the stable IDs associated with genes deleted or changed between releases. Includes gene, transcript and translation stable IDs.

peptide_archive

Contains the peptides for deleted or changed translations.


Exernal references

Tables used for storing links to and details about objects that are stored in other databases

xref

Holds data about objects which are external to EnsEMBL, but need to be associated with EnsEMBL objects. Information about the database that the external object is stored in is held in the external_db table entry referred to by the external_db column.

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external_db

Stores data about the external databases in which the objects described in the xref table are stored.

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external_synonym

Some xref objects can be referred to by more than one name. This table relates names to xref IDs.

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object_xref

Describes links between EnsEMBL objects and objects held in external databases. The EnsEMBL object can be one of several types; the type is held in the ensembl_object_type column. The ID of the particular EnsEMBL gene, translation or whatever is given in the ensembl_id column. The xref_id points to the entry in the xref table that holds data about the external object.Each EnsEMBL object can be associated with zero or more xrefs. An xref object can be associated with one or more EnsEMBL objects.

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go_xref

Links between EnsEMBL objects and external objects produced by GO (Gene Ontology) require some additional data which is not stored in the object_xref table.

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Links:

identity_xref

Describes how well a particular xref obeject matches the EnsEMBL object.

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Miscellaneous

Tables that don't fit anywhere else.

interpro

Allows storage of links to the InterPro database. InterPro is a database of protein families, domains and functional sites in which identifiable features found in known proteins can be applied to unknown protein sequences.

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Concepts

co-ordinates

There are several different co-ordinate systems used in the EnsEMBL database and API. For every co-ordinate system, the fundamental unit is one base. The differences between co-ordinate systems lie in where a particular numbered base lies, and the start position it is relative to. CONTIG co-ordinates, also called 'raw contig' co-ordinates or 'clone fragments' are relative to the first base of the first contig of a clone. Note that the numbering is from 1, i.e. the very first base of the first contig of a clone is numbered 1, not 0. In CHROMOSOMAL co-ordinates, the co-ordinates are relative to the first base of the chromosome. Again, numbering is from 1. The seq_region table can store sequence regions in any of the co-ordinate systems defined in the coord_system table.

supercontigs

A supercontig is made up of a group of adjacent or overlapping contigs.

sticky_rank

The sticky_rank differentiates between fragments of the same exon; i.e for exons that span multiple contigs, all the fragments would have the same ID, but different sticky_rank values

stable_id

Gene predictions have changed over the various releases of the EnsEMBL databases. To allow the user to track particular gene predictions over changing co-ordinates, each gene-related prediction is given a 'stable identifier'. If a prediction looks similar between two releases, we try to give it the same name, even though it may have changed position and/or had some sequence changes.

cigar_line

This allows the compact storage of gapped alignments by storing the maximum extent of the matches and then a text string which encodes the placement of gaps inside the alignment. Colloquially inside Ensembl this is called a and its adoption has shrunk the number of rows in the feature table around 4-fold.



 

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