HugoGene

HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) approved gene names

The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) has assigned unique gene symbols and names to almost 38,000 human loci, of which around 19,000 are protein coding. genenames.org is a curated online repository of HGNC-approved gene nomenclature and associated resources including links to genomic, proteomic and phenotypic information, as well as dedicated gene family pages.

HGNC

The HGNC annotation database is a field database that, by default, annotates another gene name field such as refGene.name2, through its All_Symbols column, which contains all current and previously used gene names. For example, for gene TMEM261 with a previously used name C9orf123, it has two entries in the database,

name       All_Symbols
TMEM261    TMEM261
TMEM261    C9orf123

so that the name field will have its HGNC approved name TMEM261. To link to this database, you should do, for example,

% vtools use HGNC --linked_by refGene.name2


INFO: Downloading annotation database from annoDB/HGNC.ann
INFO: Downloading annotation database from http://vtools.houstonbioinformatics.org/annoDB/HGNC-20131029.DB.gz
INFO: Using annotation DB HGNC in project test.
INFO: The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) has assigned unique gene symbols
and names to almost 38,000 human loci, of which around 19,000 are protein coding.
genenames.org is a curated online repository of HGNC-approved gene nomenclature and
associated resources including links to genomic, proteomic and phenotypic information,
as well as dedicated gene family pages
INFO: 22889 out of 23953 refgene.name2 are annotated through annotation database HGNC
WARNING: 30614 out of 53503 values in annotation database HGNC are not linked to the project.

Note that not all names in refGene have an entry in HGNC. Genes that are not in HGNC are mostly LOC????? genes. Then, instead of output refGene.name2, you can output HGNC approved name

% vtools output variant chr pos HGNC.name

You can, if you are interested, check the change of names using commands

% vtools select variant 'refGene.name2 != HGNC.name' --output chr pos refGene.name2 HGNC.name --all

although variants that belong to more than one gene will also be selected and outputted.

% vtools show annotation HGNC


Annotation database HGNC (version 20131029)
Description:            The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) has
  assigned unique gene symbols and names to almost 38,000 human loci, of which
  around 19,000 are protein coding. genenames.org is a curated online
  repository of HGNC-approved gene nomenclature and associated resources
  including links to genomic, proteomic and phenotypic information, as well as
  dedicated gene family pages
Database type:          field
Reference genome *:     All_Symbols
  name                  HGNC Approved Symbol
  All_Symbols           All symbols, including Approved and repvious symbols
  HGNC_ID               A unique ID provided by the HGNC. In the HTML results
                        page this ID links to the HGNC Symbol Report for that
                        gene.
  Approved_Symbol       The official gene symbol that has been approved by the
                        HGNC and is publicly available. Symbols are approved
                        based on specific HGNC nomenclature guidelines. In the
                        HTML results page this ID links to the HGNC Symbol
                        Report for that gene.
  Approved_Name         The official gene name that has been approved by the
                        HGNC and is publicly available. Names are approved
                        based on specific HGNC nomenclature guidelines.
  Status                Indicates whether the gene is classified as: Approved
                        - these genes have HGNC-approved gene symbols Entry
                        withdrawn - these previously approved genes are no
                        longer thought to exist Symbol withdrawn - a
                        previously approved record that has since been merged
                        into a another record
  Locus_Type            Specifies the type of locus described by the given
                        entry: gene with protein product, RNA, cluster, etc (h
                        ttp://www.genenames.org/data/gdlw_columndef.html#gd_ap
                        p_sym)
  Locus_Group           Groups locus types together into related sets. See
                        http://www.genenames.org/data/gdlw_columndef.html#gd_a
                        pp_sym for details.
  Previous_Symbols      Symbols previously approved by the HGNC for this gene
  Previous_Names        Gene names previously approved by the HGNC for this
                        gene
  Synonyms              Other symbols used to refer to this gene
  Name_Synonyms         Other names used to refer to this gene
  Chromosome            Indicates the location of the gene or region on the
                        chromosome
  Date_Approved         Date the gene symbol and name were approved by the
                        HGNC
  Date_Modified         If applicable, the date the entry was modified by the
                        HGNC
  Date_Symbol_Changed   If applicable, the date the gene symbol was last
                        changed by the HGNC from a previously approved symbol.
                        Many genes receive approved symbols and names which
                        are viewed as temporary (eg C2orf#) or are non-ideal
                        when considered in the light of subsequent
                        information. In the case of individual genes a change
                        to the name (and subsequently the symbol) is only made
                        if the original name is seriously misleading.
  Date_Name_Changed     If applicable, the date the gene name was last changed
                        by the HGNC from a previously approved name
  Accession_Numbers     Accession numbers for each entry selected by the HGNC
  Enzyme_IDs            Enzyme entries have Enzyme Commission (EC) numbers
                        associated with them that indicate the hierarchical
                        functional classes to which they belong
  Entrez_Gene_ID        Entrez Gene at the NCBI provide curated sequence and
                        descriptive information about genetic loci including
                        official nomenclature, synonyms, sequence accessions,
                        phenotypes, EC numbers, MIM numbers, UniGene clusters,
                        homology, map locations, and related web sites. In the
                        HTML results page this ID links to the Entrez Gene
                        page for that gene. Entrez Gene has replaced
                        LocusLink.
  Ensembl_Gene_ID       This column contains a manually curated Ensembl Gene
                        ID
  Mouse_Genome_Database_ID MGI identifier. In the HTML results page this ID
                        links to the MGI Report for that gene.
  Specialist_Database_Links This column contains links to specialist databases
                        with a particular interest in that symbol/gene (also
                        see Specialist Database IDs).
  Specialist_Database_IDs The Specialist Database Links column contains HTML
                        links to the database in question. This column
                        contains the database ID only.
  Pubmed_IDs            Identifier that links to published articles relevant
                        to the entry in the NCBI's PubMed database.
  RefSeq_IDs            The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) identifier for that
                        entry, provided by the NCBI. As we do not aim to
                        curate all variants of a gene only one selected RefSeq
                        is displayed per gene report. RefSeq aims to provide a
                        comprehensive, integrated, non-redundant set of
                        sequences, including genomic DNA, transcript (RNA),
                        and protein products. RefSeq identifiers are designed
                        to provide a stable reference for gene identification
                        and characterization, mutation analysis, expression
                        studies, polymorphism discovery, and comparative
                        analyses.
  Gene_Family_Tag       Tag used to designate a gene family or group the gene
                        has been assigned to, according to either sequence
                        similarity or information from publications,
                        specialist advisors for that family or other
                        databases. Families/groups may be either structural or
                        functional, therefore a gene may belong to more than
                        one family/group. These tags are used to generate gene
                        family or grouping specific pages at genenames.org and
                        do not necessarily reflect an official nomenclature.
                        Each gene family has an associated gene family tag and
                        gene family description. If a particular gene is a
                        member of more than one gene family, the tags and the
                        descriptions will be shown in the same order.
  Gene_family_description Name given to a particular gene family. The gene
                        family description has an associated gene family tag.
                        Gene families are used to group genes according to
                        either sequence similarity or information from
                        publications, specialist advisors for that family or
                        other databases. Families/groups may be either
                        structural or functional, therefore a gene may belong
                        to more than one family/group.
  Record_Type
  Primary_IDs
  Secondary_IDs
  CCDS_IDs              The Consensus CDS (CCDS) project is a collaborative
                        effort to identify a core set of human and mouse
                        protein coding regions that are consistently annotated
                        and of high quality. The long term goal is to support
                        convergence towards a standard set of gene
                        annotations.
  VEGA_IDs              This contains a curated VEGA gene ID
  Locus_Specific_Databases This contains a list of links to databases or
                        database entries pertinent to the gene
  Entrez_Gene_ID_NCBI   Entrez Gene at the NCBI provide curated sequence and
                        descriptive information about genetic loci including
                        official nomenclature, synonyms, sequence accessions,
                        phenotypes, EC numbers, MIM numbers, UniGene clusters,
                        homology, map locations, and related web sites. In the
                        HTML results page this ID links to the Entrez Gene
                        page for that gene. Entrez Gene has replaced
                        LocusLink.
  OMIM_ID_NCBI          Identifier provided by Online Mendelian Inheritance in
                        Man (OMIM) at the NCBI. This database is described as
                        a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders
                        containing textual information and links to MEDLINE
                        and sequence records in the Entrez system, and links
                        to additional related resources at NCBI and elsewhere.
                        In the HTML results page this ID links to the OMIM
                        page for that entry.
  RefSeq_NCBI           The Reference Sequence (RefSeq) identifier for that
                        entry, provided by the NCBI. As we do not aim to
                        curate all variants of a gene only one mapped RefSeq
                        is displayed per gene report. RefSeq aims to provide a
                        comprehensive, integrated, non-redundant set of
                        sequences, including genomic DNA, transcript (RNA),
                        and protein products. RefSeq identifiers are designed
                        to provide a stable reference for gene identification
                        and characterization, mutation analysis, expression
                        studies, polymorphism discovery, and comparative
                        analyses. In the HTML results page this ID links to
                        the RefSeq page for that entry.
  UniProt_ID            The UniProt identifier, provided by the EBI. The
                        UniProt Protein Knowledgebase is described as a
                        curated protein sequence database that provides a high
                        level of annotation, a minimal level of redundancy and
                        high level of integration with other databases. In the
                        HTML results page this ID links to the UniProt page
                        for that entry.
  Ensembl_ID_Ensembl    The Ensembl ID is derived from the current build of
                        the Ensembl database and provided by the Ensembl team.
  UCSC_ID               The UCSC ID is derived from the current build of the
                        UCSC database
  Mouse_Genome_Database_ID_MGI MGI identifier. In the HTML results page this
                        ID links to the MGI Report for that gene.
  Rat_Genome_Database_ID_RGD RGD identifier. In the HTML results page this ID
                        links to the RGD Report for that gene.