BioVenn

BACKGROUND: In many genomics projects, numerous lists containing biological
identifiers are produced. Often it is useful to see the overlap between different
lists, enabling researchers to quickly observe similarities and differences
between the data sets they are analyzing. One of the most popular methods to
visualize the overlap and differences between data sets is the Venn diagram: a
diagram consisting of two or more circles in which each circle corresponds to a
data set, and the overlap between the circles corresponds to the overlap between
the data sets. Venn diagrams are especially useful when they are
'area-proportional' i.e. the sizes of the circles and the overlaps correspond to
the sizes of the data sets. Currently there are no programs available that can
create area-proportional Venn diagrams connected to a wide range of biological
databases. RESULTS: We designed a web application named BioVenn to summarize the
overlap between two or three lists of identifiers, using area-proportional Venn
diagrams. The user only needs to input these lists of identifiers in the
textboxes and push the submit button. Parameters like colors and text size can be
adjusted easily through the web interface. The position of the text can be
adjusted by 'drag-and-drop' principle. The output Venn diagram can be shown as an
SVG or PNG image embedded in the web application, or as a standalone SVG or PNG
image. The latter option is useful for batch queries. Besides the Venn diagram,
BioVenn outputs lists of identifiers for each of the resulting subsets. If an
identifier is recognized as belonging to one of the supported biological
databases, the output is linked to that database. Finally, BioVenn can map
Affymetrix and EntrezGene identifiers to Ensembl genes. CONCLUSION: BioVenn is an
easy-to-use web application to generate area-proportional Venn diagrams from
lists of biological identifiers. It supports a wide range of identifiers from the
most used biological databases currently available. Its implementation on the
World Wide Web makes it available for use on any computer with internet
connection, independent of operating system and without the need to install
programs locally. BioVenn is freely accessible at
http://www.cmbi.ru.nl/cdd/biovenn/.

BioVenn - a web application for the comparison and visualization of biological lists using area-proportional Venn diagrams.

BioVenn is a web-based tool to render Venn diagrams proportional to an area from lists of biological identifiers to, among others, visualize overlaps between up to three lists of identifiers. BioVenn can link recognized identifiers to corresponding databases.

BioVenn

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