Gensas v5.0: An Easy-to-use, Web-based Platform for Individual or Collaborative Structural and Functional Genome Annotation and Curation

The Genome Sequence Annotation Server (GenSAS) is a web-based annotation platform that packages multiple command line annotation tools under one, easy-to-use interface. GenSAS walks researchers through each step of the annotation process and provides instructions and hints as each step progresses. These steps include: uploading of genomic sequence(s); uploading of supportive repeat library files, species-specific (or species-related) protein and transcript files; uploading of previous annotations; prediction of gene models with trainable prediction tools; execution of repeat masking tools (including de novo repeat identification); execution of structural annotation tools; consensus gene prediction; functional annotation; manual annotation editing; and assistance with organization of files for final publication. GenSAS is integrated with the popular JBrowse genome browser for feature visualization, and manual curation of structure and function is provided by an integrated Apollo interface. The integrated Apollo also allows for collaborative manual curation which is ideal for community genome projects. GenSAS was designed with researchers as the target user group and based on feedback, GenSAS is an easy-to-use, customizable, online DNA annotation platform that allows users with little computer science knowledge to create a custom DNA annotation for their sequence(s) of interest for model and non-model organisms.