TAIR (The Arabidopsis Information Resource), together with our nonprofit host Phoenix Bioinformatics, is pleased to announce the public release of TAIR12, the latest reannotation of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, now available under accession number PRJEB100887 at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and  National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), released Feb 13, 2026. The Arabidopsis thaliana genome is a crucial resource for researchers in microbiology, genetics, plant biology, pharmacology, crop science, and related fields. TAIR12 is the culmination of a massive global collaboration involving almost 100 scientists contributing time and skills for the good of the larger research community. 

“As our understanding of genes and genomes evolves, so must our annotations. I heard it once described that genome assemblies are predictions, not facts,” said  Sebastian Eves-van den Akker of Cambridge University, who helped to establish the collaborative annotation platform used in the project and performed gene annotation. “The best approximation of reality is what gives the research community the solid foundation needed.”

“Since the last update, technology has massively changed, and we can have a higher-resolution picture of the transcriptome today. The lncRNAs were especially in need of revision, “ said Michael Schon, of Wageningen University.  Schon worked on the long noncoding RNA annotation team to reannotate loci according to a higher standard of experimental evidence.

“I hope this benefits the agricultural community and global food security for generations to come,” said Alyssa Proia, a Bioinformatician at Phoenix Bioinformatics, TAIR’s host nonprofit. Proia led the integration of GFF3 annotation files from multiple collaborating teams, ensuring a cohesive high-quality dataset.

The reannotation is augmented by two forthcoming related publications: the first, published in the journal GENETICS, details the community organization that made this new annotation possible; the second, currently in preparation, will explore the scientific changes and new biological insights presented in TAIR12, and the research process behind them. We look forward to sharing more as it becomes available.

Until then, we invite researchers to explore the updated annotations and leverage TAIR12 in their studies to advance understanding of Arabidopsis biology and plant genomics. A detailed summary of annotated entities is provided in the table below.

Thanks & acknowledgements

Table 1

Comparison of annotated entities in Araport11 and TAIR12. The green background indicates a decreased number in the new version. The gray background indicates increased or new numbers in the new version.

*represents non-coding RNAs where no more specific subtype could be assigned at the time of review