<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
/* List Definitions */
@list l0
{mso-list-id:669521996;
mso-list-template-ids:-2076176118;}
@list l0:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l0:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l1
{mso-list-id:1082533408;
mso-list-template-ids:-1170160716;}
@list l1:level1
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Symbol;}
@list l1:level2
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:o;
mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@list l1:level3
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level4
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level5
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level6
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level7
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level8
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
@list l1:level9
{mso-level-number-format:bullet;
mso-level-text:;
mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;
mso-level-number-position:left;
text-indent:-18.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Wingdings;}
ol
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0cm;}
--></style></head><body lang=EN-GB link="#0563C1" vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Dear all</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>We are pleased to announce that Ensembl has joined the international scientific effort to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic today. Our SARS-CoV-2 genome browser and related resources at <a href="http://covid-19.ensembl.org/"><span style='color:black'>covid-19.ensembl.org</span></a> are intended to support both basic research and ongoing work to develop treatments, diagnostics and vaccines.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Highlights of this initial release include:</span><o:p></o:p></p><ul style='margin-top:0cm' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Gene annotation of the reference genome ‘<span style='background:white'>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 isolate Wuhan-Hu-1’ (MN908947.3) using a modified Ensembl genebuild supported by protein evidence</span></span><o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Gene annotation from the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center & School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, via ENA</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Information on gene functions from Gene Ontology</span><o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Variation data from </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><a href="https://nextstrain.org/"><span style='color:black;background:white'>Nextstrain</span></a><span style='background:white'> with consequence predictions and nucleotide frequencies for individual isolates, as well as grouped by clades and countries</span></span><o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Problematic variant sites as defined by </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><a href="http://virological.org/t/masking-strategies-for-sars-cov-2-alignments/480"><span style='color:#1155CC;background:white'>De Maio <i>et al</i></span></a></span><o:p></o:p></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:black;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-east-asian: normal;font-variant-position: normal'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;background:white;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Protein and genomic features from InterProScan</span><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'>The release blog post with all details can be viewed <a href="http://www.ensembl.info/2020/05/19/ensembl-launches-covid-19-resource/"><span style='color:#1155CC'>here</span></a>.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>We will continue to add new data and expand this resource in future releases. <a href="https://www.ensembl.org/info/about/legal/disclaimer.html"><span style='color:#1155CC'>Like for all Ensembl data</span></a>, we place no restrictions on the use of our COVID-19 resources. Whole genome databases can be downloaded from our <a href="http://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/ensemblgenomes/pub/viruses"><span style='color:#1155CC'>FTP server</span></a>.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>In addition, the GENCODE project is updating the annotation of human protein-coding genes linked to COVID-19; please see this <a href="http://www.ensembl.info/2020/05/15/gencode-are-updating-the-annotation-of-human-protein-coding-genes-linked-to-covid-19-disease/"><span style='color:#1155CC'>blog post</span></a> for details and how to access the data in <a href="https://www.ensembl.org/index.html"><span style='color:black'>Ensembl</span></a>.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Our new COVID-19 resource is part of a wider effort at EMBL-EBI to advance <span style='background:white'>SARS-CoV-2 research by open data sharing through the </span><a href="https://www.covid19dataportal.org/"><span style='color:black;background:white'>COVID-19 Data Portal</span></a><span style='background:white'>.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black;background:white'>SARS-CoV-2 is the first virus we have added to our growing resource of more than 45,000 genomes. We hope this will be useful and we welcome your thoughts on it. Please </span><span style='color:black'><a href="mailto:helpdesk@ensembl.org"><span style='color:black;background:white'>email us</span></a><span style='background:white'> to give feedback.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Best regards,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Astrid</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>On behalf of the Ensembl team</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>--</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Dr Astrid Gall</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Ensembl Outreach Officer</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>European Molecular Biology Laboratory - European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Wellcome Genome Campus</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>Hinxton, Cambridge</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>CB10 1SD</span><o:p></o:p></p><p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='color:black'>United Kingdom</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>