The goal of hgnc is to easily import Human Gene Nomenclature into R.
Usage
To import the latest HGNC gene data set in tabular format directly into memory as a tibble do as follows:
library(hgnc)
# Check the date of HGNC last update
last_update()
#> [1] "2025-06-17 11:10:30 UTC"
# Import the data set in tidy tabular format
(hgnc_dataset <- import_hgnc_dataset())
#> # A tibble: 44,117 × 55
#> hgnc_id hgnc_id2 symbol name locus_group locus_type status location
#> <chr> <int> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 HGNC:5 5 A1BG alpha-1… protein-co… gene with… Appro… 19q13.43
#> 2 HGNC:37133 37133 A1BG-AS1 A1BG an… non-coding… RNA, long… Appro… 19q13.43
#> 3 HGNC:24086 24086 A1CF APOBEC1… protein-co… gene with… Appro… 10q11.23
#> 4 HGNC:7 7 A2M alpha-2… protein-co… gene with… Appro… 12p13.31
#> 5 HGNC:27057 27057 A2M-AS1 A2M ant… non-coding… RNA, long… Appro… 12p13.31
#> 6 HGNC:23336 23336 A2ML1 alpha-2… protein-co… gene with… Appro… 12p13.31
#> 7 HGNC:41022 41022 A2ML1-AS1 A2ML1 a… non-coding… RNA, long… Appro… 12p13.31
#> 8 HGNC:41523 41523 A2ML1-AS2 A2ML1 a… non-coding… RNA, long… Appro… 12p13.31
#> 9 HGNC:8 8 A2MP1 alpha-2… pseudogene pseudogene Appro… 12p13.31
#> 10 HGNC:30005 30005 A3GALT2 alpha 1… protein-co… gene with… Appro… 1p35.1
#> # ℹ 44,107 more rows
#> # ℹ 47 more variables: location_sortable <chr>, alias_symbol <list>,
#> # alias_name <list>, prev_symbol <list>, prev_name <list>, gene_group <list>,
#> # gene_group_id <list>, date_approved_reserved <date>,
#> # date_symbol_changed <date>, date_name_changed <date>, date_modified <date>,
#> # entrez_id <chr>, ensembl_gene_id <chr>, vega_id <chr>, ucsc_id <chr>,
#> # ena <list>, refseq_accession <list>, ccds_id <list>, uniprot_ids <list>, …Learn more
Learn more about this package by reading the documentation at https://www.pattern.institute/hgnc/.
Citing the HGNC
To cite HGNC nomenclature resources use:
- Tweedie S, Braschi B, Gray KA, Jones TEM, Seal RL, Yates B, Bruford EA. Genenames.org: the HGNC and VGNC resources in 2021. Nucleic Acids Res. 49, D939–D946 (2021). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa980
To cite data within the database use the following format:
- HGNC Database, HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, United Kingdom www.genenames.org.
Please include the month and year you retrieved the data cited.