GeneCards

Overview

GeneCards is a comprehensive, searchable database that provides integrative, gene-centric information on all annotated and predicted human genes. Developed by the Weizmann Institute of Science and maintained by LifeMap Sciences, GeneCards automatically integrates data from over 200 authoritative web sources to create unified gene cards for each human gene.

Key Features

• Comprehensive Integration: Aggregates data from ~200 databases including HGNC, OMIM, Ensembl, UniProt, NCBI Gene, and many others
• Gene Coverage: Over 443,000 gene entries including protein-coding genes, ncRNAs, pseudogenes, and other functional elements
• Multi-Dimensional Data: Genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, genetic, clinical and functional information
• Disease Associations: Extensive disease-gene relationships from clinical and research databases
• Expression Patterns: Tissue and cell-type specific expression data from multiple sources
• Pathway Integration: Comprehensive pathway and biological process annotations
• Variant Information: Genetic variant data including clinical significance
• Literature Mining: Automatically associated PubMed references
• User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive search and browsing capabilities

Data Sources

GeneCards integrates information from major categories including:

Genomic Databases

• HGNC (gene nomenclature)
• Ensembl (genome annotation)
• NCBI Gene
• GenBank and RefSeq
• GENCODE

Disease Databases

• OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man)
• MalaCards
• ClinVar
• Orphanet
• Disease Ontology

Expression Databases

• GTEx (Genotype-Tissue Expression)
• Human Protein Atlas
• BioGPS
• Bgee

Protein Databases

• UniProt (Swiss-Prot and TrEMBL)
• InterPro
• AlphaFold Protein Structure Database
• PDB (Protein Data Bank)

Pathway Databases

• Reactome
• PathCards
• WikiPathways
• Pathway Commons

Interaction Databases

• IntAct
• STRING
• BioGRID
• MINT

Variant Databases

• ClinVar
• dbSNP
• gnomAD
• GWAS Catalog
• BRCA Exchange

Model Organism Databases

• MGI (Mouse Genome Informatics)
• FlyBase
• WormBase
• SGD (Saccharomyces Genome Database)
• ZFIN (Zebrafish)

Clinical Databases

• ClinicalTrials.gov
• PharmGKB
• DrugBank
• Genetic Testing Registry

And many more specialized resources

Gene Statistics (Version 5.25)

• Total genes: 443,494
• HGNC approved: 44,232
• Disease genes: 22,595
• Protein-coding: 21,618
• ncRNA genes: 269,303
  • lncRNAs: 137,345
  • piRNAs: 111,811
  • miRNAs: 1,950
  • Other ncRNA types
• Pseudogenes: 21,793
• Functional elements: 128,261

Associated Products

The GeneCards Suite includes related databases and tools:

• MalaCards: Integrated database of human diseases
• GeneHancer: Genome-wide enhancer-to-gene associations
• GeneCarNa: Non-coding RNA human genes database
• PathCards: Human biological pathways database
• GeneAnalytics: Gene set analysis tool
• GeneALaCart: Bulk gene annotation downloads
• VarElect: Gene prioritization based on disease phenotypes

Research Applications

GeneCards supports:

• Gene function and annotation research
• Disease gene discovery and validation
• Biomarker identification
• Drug target discovery
• Pathway analysis
• Clinical genetics and diagnostics
• Comparative genomics
• Systems biology studies
• Precision medicine applications

Access

GeneCards is freely available for academic non-profit institutions. Commercial users require a license. The database is regularly updated with new data sources and improved integration methods.