We are pleased to announce the release of Ensembl 115, and the corresponding release of Ensembl Genomes 62. In this release – around 121,000 new protein-coding transcripts have been added to the GRCh38 human reference gene set. Two new breeds of cattle are now available (UOA_Tuli_1 and UOA_Wagyu_1) and the sheep reference has been updated to ARS-UI_Ramb_v3.0. Seven new plant species have been added: four oats, two garden peas, and one lablab bean. We have also added two new export modes for Newick trees which help to avoid stable ID clashes.
Continue readingNew visualisation of genomic variants in the context of genomic alignments
We have developed a novel visualisation to enable the investigation of structural variants (SVs) in the context of functional elements, pairwise alignments and segmental duplications. Developed in collaboration with the Human Genomic Structural Variation Consortium (HGSVC), the new Alignments viewer makes it easier to explore haplotype-specific variation.
Continue readingExpanded transcript set available in the latest human GRCh38 partial release on the new Ensembl site
In the current Ensembl release (Ensembl 115), the GRCh38 human Ensembl/GENCODE reference annotation was updated to include approximately 121,000 new protein-coding transcripts. This expanded set is based on long-read RNA-seq data processed by the manually supervised automated pipeline TAGENE, which is presented as the source in both browser and files.
The latest partial release for GRCh38 on the new Ensembl (partial release 2026-01-26) includes this new geneset. Some genes and genomic features in this set have several hundred transcripts, such as ZBTB20 (ENSG00000181722) which has 360 transcripts.
Continue readingWhat’s coming in Ensembl release 116 / Ensembl Genomes 63?
Ensembl 116 and Ensembl Genomes 63 are expected in April 2026. Check out what we’re up to, although we can’t guarantee everything listed here will make it into the release.
Special Notice
Ensembl 116 and Ensembl Genomes 63 will be the final releases on the current Ensembl site and platforms.
From the summer of 2026, all new data will only be available through the new Ensembl site. The site, ensembl.org, will redirect to the site currently hosted on beta.ensembl.org.
Continue readingGetting to know us: Disha Lodha (Ensembl Plants & Metazoa)
In our Teamsembl blog series, we sit down with a member of the Ensembl team to talk about their role within the project and get to know them. This month, we had a chat with Disha Lodha, a bioinformatician in the Ensembl Metazoa & Plants team.
Continue readingLarge plant protein clusters accessible via gene families view
In Ensembl release 116 (Ensembl Genomes 63), two large protein clusters in Plants have incomplete or missing homology data due to production constraints. To address this, we set about making these clusters accessible via the gene families view. Please read on if you’d like to know more about these clusters, both associated with the Panther subfamily ‘PTHR11439_SF127’.
Continue readingService notice – server issues affecting the Ensembl mirror sites
We are working on server issues affecting the Ensembl mirror sites. A workaround is to use the Ensembl main site via the following link – https://ensembl.org?redirect=no or a recent archive such as https://may2025.archive.ensembl.org/. You can also try the new Ensembl site at https://beta.ensembl.org and let us know about the features you would like to see there.
Updates to programmatic access to Ensembl and transitioning to the new Ensembl Platform
Ensembl is currently undergoing a major transformation to provide faster, more flexible, and more scalable access to genome data. As outlined in our Ensembl 2026 publication, work on the new platform is well underway and can already be explored at beta.ensembl.org. In this blog, we are sharing important information about upcoming changes to Ensembl data access, including timelines, new services, and what you need to do to prepare.
Continue readingEnsembl Rapid Release has been archived
The Ensembl Rapid Release site (rapid.ensembl.org) has been archived, and is now available at: rapid-archive.ensembl.org. Any hardcoded URLs with the prefix “rapid.ensembl.org” will redirect to the new Ensembl site at beta.ensembl.org.
Continue readingCool stuff Ensembl VEP can do: annotate structural variants with gnomAD allele frequencies and ClinVar clinical significance
To support the filtering and interpretation of structural variants (SVs), the Ensembl VEP web interface has been extended in release 115 to annotate them with allele frequencies from gnomAD and clinical significance from ClinVar.
Continue readingCool stuff Ensembl VEP can do: reporting functional assay results from MaveDB
Ensembl VEP makes it easy to annotate your variants with the reference data essential to variant filtering and interpretation. This includes the results of multiplex assays of variant effect (MAVEs) which report on observed cellular phenotypes across nearly all possible variants in specific targeted regulatory or coding regions.
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