# Ensembl gene ID

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/ensembl-gene-id/  
OnCo record `ensembl-gene-id` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

An Ensembl gene ID such as ENSG00000141736 is a stable machine identifier for a gene that survives symbol changes, so pipelines join on it rather than on names.

## Summary

The Ensembl genome database project at the European Bioinformatics Institute provides a centralised resource for genomes and their annotation (Wikipedia); its gene identifiers begin ENSG and carry a version suffix that increments when the annotation changes. Expression matrices from STAR and Salmon are keyed by Ensembl ID, and mapping to symbols loses genes (several IDs per symbol, retired IDs). Recording the Ensembl release alongside the genome build is part of provenance.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Ensembl gene ID; Ensembl ID; ENSG identifier; Ensembl gene identifier; ENSG id
- Tags: cansim-terms

## Notes

- Listed in the CanSim terms map 1.0.0 (docs/onco/terms.json, generated 2026-09-24), CC BY 4.0, attribution: CanSim project, an open, public-data-first cancer foundation-model programme; CanSim page path /terms/ensembl-gene-id.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensembl_genome_database_project
- About Ensembl: https://www.ensembl.org/info/about/index.html
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensembl_genome_database_project

## Connected records

- terms: [Cancer AI vocabulary (CanSim terms map)](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-ai-vocabulary/), [Genome builds: GRCh38 versus hg19 (GRCh37)](https://onco.cc/terms/genome-builds/), [HGNC gene symbol](https://onco.cc/terms/hgnc-symbol/), [Provenance fields for research data](https://onco.cc/terms/provenance-fields/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/ensembl-gene-id.json