Python interface to Ensembl reference genome metadata (exons, transcripts, &c)

from pyensembl import EnsemblRelease

# release 77 uses human reference genome GRCh38
data = EnsemblRelease(77)

# will return ['HLA-A']
gene_names = data.gene_names_at_locus(contig=6, position=29945884)

# get all exons associated with HLA-A
exon_ids  = data.exon_ids_of_gene_name('HLA-A')

You can install PyEnsembl using pip:

pip install pyensembl

This should also install any required packages, such as datacache and BioPython.

Before using PyEnsembl, run the following command to download and install Ensembl data:

pyensembl install --release <list of Ensembl release numbers> --species <species-name>

For example, pyensembl install --release 75 76 --species human will download and install all human reference data from Ensembl releases 75 and 76.

Alternatively, you can create the EnsemblRelease object from inside a Python process and call ensembl_object.download() followed by ensembl_object.index().

PyEnsembl also allows arbitrary genomes via the specification of local file paths or remote URLs to both Ensembl and non-Ensembl GTF and FASTA files. (Warning: GTF formats can vary, and handling of non-Ensembl data is still very much in development.)

For example:

data = Genome
    reference_name='GRCh38',
    annotation_name='my_genome_features',
    gtf_path_or_url='/My/local/gtf/path_to_my_genome_features.gtf'))
# parse GTF and construct database of genomic features
data.index()
gene_names = data.gene_names_at_locus(contig=6, position=29945884)

The EnsemblRelease object has methods to let you access all possible combinations of the annotation features gene_name, gene_id, transcript_name, transcript_id, exon_id as well as the location of these genomic elements (contig, start position, end position, strand).

genes(contig=None, strand=None) : returns list of Gene objects, optionally restricted to a particular contig or strand.

genes_at_locus(contig, position, end=None, strand=None) : returns list of Gene objects overlapping a particular position on a contig, optionally extend into a range with the end parameter and restrict to forward or backward strand by passing strand='+' or strand='-'.

gene_by_id(gene_id) : return Gene object for given Ensembl gene ID (e.g. "ENSG00000068793")

gene_names(contig=None, strand=None) : returns all gene names in the annotation database, optionally restricted to a particular contig or strand.

genes_by_name(gene_name) : get all the unqiue genes with the given name (there might be multiple due to copies in the genome), return a list containing a Gene object for each distinct ID.

gene_by_protein_id(protein_id) : find Gene associated with the given Ensembl protein ID (e.g. "ENSP00000350283")

gene_names_at_locus(contig, position, end=None, strand=None) : names of genes overlapping with the given locus (returns a list to account for overlapping genes)

gene_name_of_gene_id(gene_id) : name of gene with given ID

gene_name_of_transcript_id(transcript_id) : name of gene associated with given transcript ID

gene_name_of_transcript_name(transcript_name) : name of gene associated with given transcript name

gene_name_of_exon_id(exon_id) : name of gene associated with given exon ID

gene_ids(contig=None, strand=None) : all gene IDs in the annotation database

gene_ids_of_gene_name(gene_name) : all Ensembl gene IDs with the given name

transcripts(contig=None, strand=None) : returns list of Transcript objects for all transcript entries in the Ensembl database, optionally restricted to a particular contig or strand.

transcript_by_id(transcript_id) : construct Transcript object for given Ensembl transcript ID (e.g. "ENST00000369985")

transcripts_by_name(transcript_name) : returns list of Transcript objects for every transcript matching the given name.

transcript_names(contig=None, strand=None) : all transcript names in the annotation database

transcript_ids(contig=None, strand=None) : returns all transcript IDs in the annotation database

transcript_ids_of_gene_id(gene_id) : return IDs of all transcripts associated with given gene ID

transcript_ids_of_gene_name(gene_name) : return IDs of all transcripts associated with given gene name

transcript_ids_of_transcript_name(transcript_name) : find all Ensembl transcript IDs with the given name

transcript_ids_of_exon_id(exon_id) : return IDs of all transcripts associatd with given exon ID

exon_ids(contig=None, strand=None) : returns list of exons IDs in the annotation database, optionally restricted by the given chromosome and strand

exon_ids_of_gene_id(gene_id) : returns list of exon IDs associated with a given gene ID

exon_ids_of_gene_name(gene_name) : returns list of exon IDs associated with a given gene name

exon_ids_of_transcript_id(transcript_id) : returns list of exon IDs associated with a given transcript ID

exon_ids_of_transcript_name(transcript_name) : returns list of exon IDs associated with a given transcript name