Circos: An information aesthetic for comparative genomics

  1. Martin Krzywinski1,3,
  2. Jacqueline Schein1,
  3. İnanç Birol1,
  4. Joseph Connors2,
  5. Randy Gascoyne2,
  6. Doug Horsman2,
  7. Steven J. Jones1 and
  8. Marco A. Marra1
  1. 1 Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Center, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4S6, Canada;
  2. 2 British Columbia Cancer Research Center, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada

    Abstract

    We created a visualization tool called Circos to facilitate the identification and analysis of similarities and differences arising from comparisons of genomes. Our tool is effective in displaying variation in genome structure and, generally, any other kind of positional relationships between genomic intervals. Such data are routinely produced by sequence alignments, hybridization arrays, genome mapping, and genotyping studies. Circos uses a circular ideogram layout to facilitate the display of relationships between pairs of positions by the use of ribbons, which encode the position, size, and orientation of related genomic elements. Circos is capable of displaying data as scatter, line, and histogram plots, heat maps, tiles, connectors, and text. Bitmap or vector images can be created from GFF-style data inputs and hierarchical configuration files, which can be easily generated by automated tools, making Circos suitable for rapid deployment in data analysis and reporting pipelines.

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    1. Published in Advance June 18, 2009, doi: 10.1101/gr.092759.109 Genome Res. 19: 1639-1645 Copyright © 2009 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

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