GA4GH VRSATILE

Note

VRSATILE is a Driver Project initiative to guide extending VRS in practical, real-world data exchange. The contents of this resource are not a GA4GH standard. As the demonstrated utility of VRSATILE specification components become clear through Driver Project feedback and adoption, we will advance those components as proposed standards.

VRS Added Tools for Interoperable Loquacious Exchange (VRSATILE; prounounced “versatile”) is a set of proposed extensions for VRS to enable interoperable exchange of common descriptive data alongside variation concepts. Common examples of this are reference sequence ids, HGVS descriptors, associated concept ids, and community aliases such as EGFR vIII. VRSATILE and its components are in a draft state and a reflection of current Driver Project interoperability efforts based on the VRS standard.

VRSATILE also enables precise representation of “aggregate” variation concepts (categorical variation) that bundle multiple contextual forms defined by shared properties. Examples of categorical variation include the concepts represented by ClinVar variation IDs, CIViC variation IDs, ClinGen Allele Registry Canonical Allele IDs, and dbSNP Reference SNP IDs.