awesome-genome-visualization

A list of interesting genome visualizers, genome browsers, or genome-browser-like implementations

See the new companion website here https://cmdcolin.github.io/awesome-genome-visualization/

Follow the BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/awesomegenomeviz.bsky.social or Mastodon account https://genomic.social/@awesomegenomevisualization

Note that the organization on the GitHub README here is a best effort categorization using the first tag applied to each tool, but tools can have multiple tags too. See the website to see all tags applied to tools

The general focus here is on tools that plot things in genomic or sequence coordinate space

Note: This list runs the gammut from bespoke and simple to more general-purpose and complex tools. Some are historical, or may be for more visual inspiration only

I also encourage you to make your own visualization, things like R make this so much easier! But also consider making your visualization code re-usable for the wider community! And feel free to send PRs for more tools!

Academic license

• Consed (img)

General

• ABrowse (genome browser) (Had integrations with BioMart, Taverna) (img)
• Argo (img)
• BasePlayer (img)
• Biodalliance (img)
• Celera genome browser (img)
• Ensembl genome browser (img)
• Ensembl genome browser 2020 edition (img)
• GBrowse 2 (Original gbrowse paper https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.403602) (img)
• GenomeMaps (img)
• Genoverse (img)
• Gosling (img)
• gtracks (Powered by pyGenomeTracks) (img)
• HiGlass (img)
• IGB (img)
• IGV (img)
• IGV.js (img)
• JBrowse (See also JBrowse plugin registry https://gmod.github.io/jbrowse-registry. Runs on the web or as a desktop app using Electron) (img)
• JBrowse 2 (See gallery for more examples https://jbrowse.org/jb2/gallery) (img)
• Kero-BROWSE (Also can visualize basic synteny, see tracks e.g. https://kero.hgc.jp/tool/keyword.html#kero:chrX:153,724,868-153,744,762 human vs chimp) (img)
• NCBI Genome Data Viewer (img)
• Nucleome browser (github at https://github.com/nucleome) (img)
• Pileup.js (img)
• Savant (img)
• Tablet (img)
• trackplot (python) (img)
• Trackster (img)
• UCSC genome browser (img)
• UTGB (University of Tokyo Genome Browser) (img)
• Valis browser (img)
• WashU epigenomics browser (The ReactJS is a redesign, there is also a legacy version. Note also, there are comparative features https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.29.518374v1) (img)
• Zenbu (img)

Alignments viewer

• alignoth (img)
• bamscope (img)
• Chromatic (img)
• DrukBam (img)
• Gambit (img)
• GenomeView (java app) (img)
• gw (img)
• Hawkeye (img)
• LookSeq (img)
• MagicViewer (img)
• MapView (links in original paper are dead, but URL provided here works) (img)
• NGB (img)
• pyBamView (See supplementary info for more figures, supports padded SAM/BAM which is fairly rare) (img)
• Staden (img)
• udon (Uses an advanced data structure for pileup, so visually a basic example but likely just a small demo) (img)
• wally (img)

Annotation

• Varsome (img)

Assembly

• GCI (img)

Assembly QC

• ALVIS (chimeric alignment viewer) (img)
• Icarus QUAST (img)
• MIRA (orig paper also describes mira here http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.23.7465&rep=rep1&type=pdf) (img)
• vega (Mentioned in https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.02.450883v1.full.pdf also note: vega standards for vertebrate genome annotation database) (img)

BLAST

• SequenceServer (img)

Chromosome painting

• GeMo (img)

Circular

• Anvio
• BioCircos.js (img)
• BRICK (BRIG-like circular knowledgebase) (See also BRIG) (img)
• CGView (See also CGView comparison tool and other related https://paulstothard.github.io/cgview_comparison_tool/) (img)
• Circleator (img)
• circlize (img)
• Circos (no official github to my knowledge) (img)
• CircosJS (img)
• circularMT (img)
• DNAPlotter (img)
• GenomeProjector (img)
• genoVi (img)
• Gview (img)
• JupiterPlot (img)
• OGDRAW (img)
• OmicCircos (img)
• pyCirclize (img)
• pyCircos (See also https://github.com/ponnhide/plasmidviewer) (img)
• RegulomeExplorer (img)

CNV

• aCNVViewer (img)
• BAMScale (img)
• bcftools cnv (img)
• CNANorm (img)
• CNSpector (img)
• cnvCurator (img)
• CNVkit (img)
• copynumber (img)
• CoveragePlotter (See also http://lindenb.github.io/jvarkit/WGSCoveragePlotter.html for multi-chromosome) (img)
• covviz (img)
• genevisR (img)
• genome_coverage_plotter (img)
• GenomePaint (Demos https://proteinpaint.stjude.org/bam/) (img)
• GenomeSpy (img)
• Genovar (img)
• mocha (Has a full analysis pipeline associated with end result visualizations) (img)
• Orchestral (img)
• PURPLE (intermutation-distance rainfall plots/katagesis plots are not technically in genomic coordinates, but do indicate genomic cluster of variants) (img)
• SeeNV (img)
• sequenza (also see https://sequenzatools.bitbucket.io/#/home) (img)
• SFARI (img)
• SnoopCGH (img)
• SNPitty (img)

Commercial

• 10x genomics/Loupe (img)
• Alamut (img)
• ATCC Genome Portal (img)
• Benchling (img)
• Bionano (img)
• Circa (img)
• CLC Genomics workbench (img)
• DNASTAR (img)
• ERGO (img)
• Geneious (img)
• Genestack (img)
• Golden Helix (Free for academic use) (img)
• Lucid viewer (img)
• MacVector (img)
• Persephone (img)
• SnapGene (img)
• Strand NGS (img)

Comparative

• AccuSyn (img)
• Aequatus (img)
• AliTV (img)
• Artemis comparison tool (ACT) (img)
• asynt (img)
• AutoGraph (img)
• BactoGENIE (img)
• Biodalliance comparative demo (img)
• BRIG (img)
• Chromatiblock (img)
• CHROMEISTER (img)
• chromoMap (img)
• chromsyn (img)
• Cinteny (img)
• clinker (img)
• CMap (img)
• CoGe (img)
• Combo (Based on the tool 'Argo') (img)
• Comparative assembly hub / "snake track" (img)
• CrossBrowse (img)
• CrowsNest (img)
• CVit (img)
• Cvit.js (img)
• EasyFig (img)
• EvolutionHighway (The 'evolutionary highway' image type is reproduced in some other packages e.g. https://github.com/marta-fb/syntenyPlotteR, paper https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1111387) (img)
• FastANI (img)
• GBrowse_syn (img)
• GCSnap (img)
• GENESPACE (Includes a powerful analysis pipeline, worth reading the paper) (img)
• Genome Context Viewer (img)
• Genome-plots-processing (img)
• GenomeMatcher (img)
• GenomeSyn (img)
• GenomicBreaks (img)
• Genomicus (img)
• gggenomes (img)
• GGisy (img)
• GIVE (img)
• GSSPlayground (img)
• JAX Synteny browser (img)
• LinearDisplay.pl (readme says to cite this paper) (img)
• mauve-viewer (img)
• MCScan (python version) (Also has 2024 citation here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/imt2.211) (img)
• MCScanX (img)
• mGSV (multiple genome synteny viewer) (img)
• miropeats (image from 2021 paper https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.08.471837v1.full.pdf) (img)
• MizBee (img)
• ModDotPlot (img)
• multiGenomicContext (img)
• Multiple genome viewer (img)
• NCBI CGV (img)
• NGenomeSyn (See also RectChr) (img)
• ntSynt (Uses gggenomes) (img)
• odp (oxford dot plots) (Pub is not for visualization tool, but it is suggested to cite this paper) (img)
• OMA local synteny browser (img)
• pafr (img)
• Parasight (Examples at https://ratparalogy.gs.washington.edu/) (img)
• PipMaker (See also MultiPipMaker http://pipmaker.bx.psu.edu/pipmaker/mpm-example/index.html) (img)
• plotsr (see also https://github.com/schneebergerlab/syri) (img)
• pretzel (img)
• progressiveMauve viewer (img)
• PSAT (img)
• pyGenomeViz (See also https://github.com/moshi4/MGCplotter https://github.com/moshi4/GBKviz https://github.com/moshi4/plot_genome_align_fig) (img)
• r2cat (img)
• RectChr (img)
• SafFire (img)
• SequenceSurveyor (img)
• ShinySyn (img)
• SimpleSynteny (img)
• Smash++ (img)
• Sybil (Download https://sourceforge.net/projects/sybil/) (img)
• SyMap (img)
• SynBrowse (img)
• Synima (img)
• syntenyPlotteR (img)
• SyntenyPortal (img)
• syntR (img)
• SynTView (img)
• SynVisio (img)
• SYNY (img)
• TNA (ACT (Artemis Comparison Tool) replacement) (img)
• TreeBrowser (MicrobesOnline) (img)
• Tripal MapViewer (img)
• VISTA browser (img)
• WGDI (img)
• XMatchView (img)

Coverage

• BAMdash (img)
• dep (Can handle very deep coverage) (img)
• ggcoverage (img)
• SeqCover (img)
• signac (img)
• Trackplot (R) (img)
• wiggleplotr (img)

Deadlink

• CGH-Explorer (img)
• DNAVis (img)
• VAMP (img)

Dotplot

• D-GENIES (img)
• DAGchainer (img)
• Delly-maze (see also https://www.gear-genomics.com/maze/) (img)
• Discoplot (img)
• Dot (Python data preparation script) (img)
• Dotlet (The original publication was 2000 but updated ~2020 with reactjs) (img)
• Dotplot (chirimoyo)
• dotPlotly (img)
• Dotter (img)
• Dottup (also seen here http://eichlerlab.gs.washington.edu/pubs/chm1-structural-variation/data/GRCh37/heterochromatic_extensions.pdf) (img)
• FlexiDot (img)
• Gepard (img)
• ggplot2 mummerplot (img)
• iLambda/Dotplot
• Jdot (img)
• JGI/IMG (Dotplot use MUMmer) (img)
• last-dotplot (img)
• local-rearrangements (Can color dotplots with annotations for e.g. exons, transposons, low complexity regions. See also last-dotplot. Nice figure using it here https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-020-00762-1/figures/4) (img)
• MashMap (img)
• mcutils (https://twitter.com/mjpchaisson/status/1040363992206569472) (img)
• Minidot (img)
• Mummer-idotplot
• Mummerplot (img)
• oxford-plots (Has nice description of a synteny pipeline here https://github.com/jherrero/oxford-plots/blob/master/examples/pig_X_Y.txt) (img)
• Redotable (img)
• shinyChromosome (img)
• syntenyPlotByR (img)

Epigenomics

• Chip Monk (Also see SeqMonk https://www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/seqmonk/) (img)
• Chipster (Copy number tutorial https://chipster.csc.fi/manual/cn-tutorial.pdf) (img)
• cisGenome Browser (img)
• CoolBox (fork of pyGenomeTracks) (img)
• EaSeq (img)
• Epilogos (img)
• Epiviz (img)
• HiPiler (img)
• JBR (Not open source, at least not on github) (img)
• Juicebox (img)
• Juicebox.js (img)
• Peax (img)
• python-genome-browser aka pygbrowse (img)

Exotic

• BigTop (img)
• Cylindrical alignment app (img)
• DNASkittle (img)
• FluentDNA (img)
• sockeye (img)
• spinteny (img)

Expression

• GTEX Locus browser (img)

Gene fusion

• AGFusion (See also https://www.agfusion.app/ for web based version) (img)
• arriba (img)
• Chimeraviz (img)
• clinker (gene fusion software) (img)
• FusionInspector (Uses igv.js) (img)
• GeneFuse (img)
• MAVIS (img)

Gene structure

• Apollo aka WebApollo (img)
• D3GB (Live link http://d3gb.usal.es/docs/HumanGenomeBrowser/index.html?r=12:121113963-121213963 doesn't work anymore) (img)
• ggtranscript (img)
• TnT (img)

Graph

• AGB assembly graph browser (img)
• Bandage (See also BandageNG https://github.com/asl/BandageNG) (img)
• ctag (See also hygene https://github.com/ProgrammingLife2017/hygene) (img)
• gfaestus (See demo video displaying GFF3 annotations on graph https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-HnKXIrJl4) (img)
• GfaViz (img)
• graphgenomeviewer (img)
• IGGE (Not open source) (img)
• LINX (part of the PURPLE/GRIDSS/LINX pipeline) (img)
• MoMi-G (img)
• odgi draw + odgi viz + odgi inject (Example from https://github.com/pangenome/pggb, see also gene arrow map https://odgi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/rst/tutorials/injecting_gene_arrows.html) (img)
• panGraphViewer (img)
• PGR-TK (img)
• pgv (graph tool) (img)
• sequence tube map (img)
• SGTK (scaffold graph toolkit) (img)
• Shasta (Uses graphviz) (img)
• strangepg (img)
• VAG (img)
• VRPG (img)
• waragraph (Deployed to the web via wasm) (img)

GWAS

• CMPlot (img)
• GeneticsMakie.jl (img)
• ggplot2 manhattan plot (This is not a preconfigured tool but a blog post tutorial with tidy data and ggplot2) (img)
• LDBlockShow (img)
• Locuszoom (img)
• PureScript genetics browser (img)

Heatmap

• UCSC Xena (img)
• VIVA (img)

Hi-C

• figeno (img)
• gcMapExplorer (img)
• Plotgardener (img)
• PretextView (img)

Historical

• Apollo (URL is an archive.org link) (img)
• gff2ps (Used to make original figures for the human Celera genome) (img)
• Internet Contig Explorer (img)

Ideogram

• chromPlot (img)
• chrov (See also usage in https://github.com/rraadd88/beditor) (img)
• eweitz/Ideogram (img)
• ezcharts (img)
• Flash Gviewer (img)
• genomegraphs (img)
• Ideogram (img)
• Ideogram viewer (img)
• Ideoplot
• IdeoViz (img)
• karyoploteR (img)
• KaryotypeSVG (img)
• NCBI Genome Decoration (Was located at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/tools/gdp/, sunsetted in 2023) (img)
• PhenoGram (Can be web server or download) (img)
• RIdeogram (img)
• tagore (img)
• UCSC Genome Graphs (img)

K-mer

• Panagram (img)

Linear

• Gnomad browser (img)

Local ancestry

• fineSTRUCTURE aka ChromoPainter (img)
• MOSAIC (img)
• winpca (img)

Logo

• LogoJS (img)

Long reads

• methylartist (img)

Manhattan

• locuszoomr (See also easylabel for manhattan plots https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/easylabel/vignettes/easylabel.html) (img)
• topr (Includes locuszoom style plot) (img)

Methylation

• AnnoJ (See list of instances of the browser here https://ecker.salk.edu/genome-browser/) (img)
• modbamtools (img)
• NanoMethViz (img)

Microbiology

• clonifier (per github: 'A web app for viewing plasmid maps & genomes, and simulating PCR and Gibson assembly') (img)
• Edinburgh-Genome-Foundry/DnaFeaturesViewer (See also https://github.com/Edinburgh-Genome-Foundry/Caravagene) (img)
• GECO (img)
• GeCoViz (img)
• GeneViTo (img)
• IslandViewer and IslandPlot (web app using it here https://pathogenomics.sfu.ca/islandviewer uses D3, SVG) (img)
• lovis4u (img)

Mobile app

• iGenomics (img)

MSA

• AA (alignment annotator) (also see STRAP) (img)
• abrowse (MSA viewer) (img)
• alen (img)
• alignfigR (img)
• alignment.js (img)
• AlignmentComparator (Uses http://bioinfweb.info/LibrAlign/) (img)
• AlignmentViewer (img)
• AliTreeViz (img)
• AliView (img)
• ALVIS (MSA viewer) (Introduces sequence bundles concept, also see web app version https://www.ebi.ac.uk/goldman-srv/sequencebundles/ source code https://bitbucket.org/schwarzlab/alvis/src/master/) (img)
• BioJS/MSA (img)
• Boxshade (Also available as a command line tool with apt install boxshade. See also rMSA which can automate running boxshade from within R) (img)
• CIAlign (Has useful utility functions to clean gaps and trim MSAs) (img)
• CView (img)
• ESPript (Primarily a web interface but can download a binary for linux https://espript.ibcp.fr/ESPript/ESPript/esp_faq.php) (img)
• ete (img)
• ggmsa (See also ggtree) (img)
• ggtree (see https://yulab-smu.top/treedata-book/chapter7.html?q=msa#msaplot for MSA example) (img)
• Jalview (img)
• JSAV (img)
• MEGA-X (original paper from 1994 but actively updated. requires EULA for download) (img)
• MSABrowser (img)
• msaR (uses BioJS/MSA) (img)
• MView (See also their web versions of clustal omega etc. which have similar outputs) (img)
• NCBI MSA Viewer (img)
• ProViz (See also alphafold visualization as tracks http://slim.icr.ac.uk/projects/alphafold?page=alphafold_proviz_homepage) (img)
• pyBoxshade (also see boxshade) (img)
• pymsaplotter (img)
• React MSAViewer (img)
• react-msaview (img)
• rMSA (Can automate boxshade) (img)
• Seaview (img)
• seqotron (img)
• seqvisr (img)
• SNIPViz (img)
• STRAP (also see AA) (img)
• TeXShade (img)
• Wasabi (img)

Multi-way synteny

• Mumemto (img)
• SVbyEye (AKA plotAVA) (img)

Pangenome

• Pan-Tetris (img)
• Panacaea (img)
• Panache (img)
• panX (img)
• PGAP-X (img)
• PGV (pangenome tool) (img)
• Phandango (img)
• RPAN (3kricedb) (img)
• TASUKE (info about multi-genome-browser https://tasuke.dna.affrc.go.jp/) (img)

Phylogenetics

• Gingr (img)
• Nextclade (Related usage on nextstrain app also) (img)
• Taxonium (Genome variation visualisation in Taxonium is provided by the 'Treenome Viewer': https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article/39/1/btac772/6858450) (img)

Population

• GWAS catalog browser (img)
• Haploview (img)
• Human genome dating (made with vega/d3) (img)
• Panoptes (img)
• pixy (The link in readthedocs shows a nice general purpose way to plot multi-chromosome plots in ggplot2 with facet grid. Alternative methods for multi-chromosome plots shown by the manhattan ggplot2 tutorial (https://danielroelfs.com/blog/how-i-create-manhattan-plots-using-ggplot/ uses cumulative bp instead of facet_grid)) (img)
• PopSV (img)
• SWAV (img)
• vcfR (image shows chromoqc output) (img)

Protein

• Aquaria (img)
• drawProteins (img)
• IBS (Illustrator for Biological Sequences) (img)
• nightingale/protvista (Used on InterProScan website https://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/) (img)
• PFAM generate_graphic (Also see guide here https://pfam.xfam.org/help#tabview=tab10) (img)
• Prosite/MyDomains (img)
• Protael (img)
• ProteinPaint (img)
• pViz (img)
• TogoStanza Protein Browser (img)

Quantitative

• wasm bigwig demo browser (img)

Repeats

• GraphAlignmentViewer (img)
• REPAVER (img)
• REViewer (See also GraphAlignmentViewer, similar look and from illumina also) (img)
• SODA (Describes itself as a low-level library to create larger applications with) (img)
• StainedGlass (img)
• TRVZ (TRGT tandem repeat genotyping visualizer) (img)

Single cell

• ArchR (img)
• casper (img)
• copykat (img)
• gingko (img)
• Millefy (img)
• MosaicCatcher pipeline (img)
• numbat (img)
• scCNV_heatmap (img)

Special-purpose

• SEQing (img)
• UGENE (img)

Splicing

• Slinker (See also, clinker (gene fusion software)) (img)
• splicejam (img)
• Vials

Static

• BAMSnap (img)
• bcftools roh (Plots runs of homozygosity, has interactive plot-roh.py helper too) (img)
• cgplot (img)
• ChIA-Pipe (img)
• CNView (img)
• CNVPlot (img)
• CNVpytor (img)
• DNAPlotLib (img)
• ExonIntron (img)
• FeatureViewer (img)
• geneviewer (img)
• Geneviz (img)
• Genome STRiP (img)
• GenomeTools (img)
• GenomeView (img)
• genoPlotR (img)
• ggbio (img)
• GGgenes (img)
• GGsashimi (img)
• gtrellis (img)
• Gviz (img)
• Hagfish (img)
• HiCPlotter (img)
• JVarKit/BamToSVG (img)
• Lollipops (img)
• Mason (img)
• Methplotlib (img)
• mummer2circos (img)
• Pairoscope (img)
• pauvre (img)
• pyGenomeTracks (See also https://pypi.org/project/gtracks/ which is a separate project that is powered by pyGenomeTracks) (img)
• RACER (img)
• RepViz (img)
• Samplot (img)
• SashimiPlot (See also rmats2sashimiplot which uses MISO. MATS stands for Multivariate Analysis of Transcript Splicing) (img)
• shabam (img)
• SparK (img)
• Spliceclust (img)
• Sushi (img)
• svist4get (img)
• svv (img)
• svviz (img)
• svviz2 (img)
• trackViewer (img)

SV

• AmpliconArchitect (The term amplicon refers essentially to extrachromosomal DNA in cancer) (img)
• asgart (img)
• bigly (img)
• gGnomes (img)
• gGnomes.js (img)
• Gremlin (img)
• InGAP-SV (img)
• Introgression browser (img)
• NeoLoopFinder (img)
• ReConPlot (img)
• Ribbon (img)
• SMRT View (wiki page https://github.com/PacificBiosciences/DevNet/wiki/SMRT-View) (img)
• SplitThreader (img)
• SVhawkeye (img)
• SVPV (img)
• vcf2circos (Based on PCircos https://github.com/CJinny/PCircos) (img)

Synthetic biology

• ApE (a plasmid editor) (img)
• Chopchop (img)
• plascad (img)
• plasmapR (img)
• seqviz (img)

Text based

• Alan (img)
• Alv (img)
• ASCIIGenome (img)
• Bamcov (img)
• BLAST+ (reading -outfmt 0 pairwise output is the original CLI bioinformatics!)
• Hapviz (img)
• pileuppy (img)
• plotReads (img)
• rich-msa (img)
• Rna Alignment Viewers (Colorstock, SScolor, Ratón) (img)
• Sam2pairwise
• Samtools depth visualization (img)
• Samtools tview (img)
• SvABA (img)
• VizAln (from HipSTR) (img)
• wgatools (img)

Transposons

• TE-nest (this was an online tool that does not appear to exist anymore see https://web.archive.org/web/20170712104431/http://www.plantgdb.org/tool/TEnest/. the github link is re-hosted source code also downloaded from archive.org) (img)
• Transposcope (img)

Uncategorized

• Locuszoom.js

Variation

• NucFreq (img)
• snpit (img)
• vcfPlotein (img)

Other lists

• Awesome Bioinformatics
• Genocat large collection of genomic visualizations with great review paper accompaniment https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cgf.13727
• awesome-biological-visualizations

Send in PRs for more stuff!

License

This README.md and TOOLS.json are CC0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

The website code is MIT