How to cite

Cite Sniff.

If you use the Sniff Atlas, a breed page, a gene page, or a computed dimension in published work, cite the concept DOI (it always resolves to the latest version) and the upstream sources the atlas builds on. Every format below is copy-paste ready.

CC-BY 4.0 attribution requires linking back to sniff.world when republishing dataset content. We ask the same for site content cited in writing.

Plain text

For most journal styles, copy this:

Gehring, M. (2026). Sniff Atlas v1.0.1: an open, breed-stratified catalogue of common canine coding variants with calibrated protein-language-model pathogenicity. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566358. CC-BY 4.0.

APA 7th edition

Gehring, M. (2026). Sniff Atlas v1.0.1: an open, breed-stratified catalogue of common canine coding variants with calibrated protein-language-model pathogenicity [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566358

Machine-readable

BibTeX

@dataset{gehring_2026_sniff_atlas,
  author       = {Gehring, Matt},
  title        = {Sniff Atlas v1.0.1: an open, breed-stratified
                  catalogue of common canine coding variants with
                  calibrated protein-language-model pathogenicity},
  year         = 2026,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.20566358},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566358},
  license      = {CC-BY-4.0},
  note         = {Concept DOI; always resolves to latest version.}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Gehring, Matt
TI  - Sniff Atlas v1.0.1: an open, breed-stratified catalogue of common canine coding variants with calibrated protein-language-model pathogenicity
PY  - 2026
PB  - Zenodo
DO  - 10.5281/zenodo.20566358
UR  - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20566358
LA  - en
ER  -

CITATION.cff (GitHub-readable)

cff-version: 1.2.0
message: "If you use the Sniff Atlas in published work, please cite it using these metadata."
type: dataset
title: "Sniff Atlas v1.0.1: an open, breed-stratified catalogue of common canine coding variants with calibrated protein-language-model pathogenicity"
authors:
  - family-names: Gehring
    given-names: Matt
    orcid: "https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9531-2861"
    affiliation: "Candor Systems LLC"
    email: "matt@sniff.world"
identifiers:
  - type: doi
    value: 10.5281/zenodo.20566358
    description: "Concept DOI (always resolves to latest version)."
  - type: doi
    value: 10.5281/zenodo.20572692
    description: "v1.0.1-specific DOI."
url: "https://sniff.world/study/sniff-atlas/"
repository: "https://github.com/Sniffscore"
license: CC-BY-4.0
version: "1.0.1"
date-released: "2026-06-06"
keywords:
  - canine genomics
  - dog
  - CanFam4
  - allele frequency
  - breed-stratified
  - pathogenicity
  - ESM2
  - knowledge graph
  - variant catalogue
  - open data

Citing a breed page, gene page, or computed dimension

For numeric claims on the site (allele frequencies, heterozygosity ranks, neighborhood distances, etc.) we recommend citing the underlying Sniff Atlas DOI directly, since that is the source of those numbers. For an editorial breed page or methodology page, cite the specific page URL plus the access date:

Gehring, M. (2026). Bernese Mountain Dog. Sniff. https://sniff.world/breed/bernese-mountain-dog/. Accessed [date].

Computed dimensions on those pages (heterozygosity rank, intra-breed PCA distance, nearest genetic relatives, trait-locus allele frequencies) are derived from the Sniff Atlas dataset. Cite the Atlas DOI for those numbers.

Citing a variant pathogenicity classification

The pathogenicity grades on the classification table are not part of the Sniff Atlas dataset, so do not cite them with the Atlas DOI above. Each grade is an Animal Variant Classification Guidelines (AVCG) classification, curated in OMIA. Cite the guideline and the specific OMIA entry. Sniff is the aggregating surface that brings them into one place and computes the corroboration view; if you used that, link back to the page.

The classification guideline (AVCG)

Boeykens, F., Broeckx, B. J. G., et al. (2024). Development and validation of animal variant classification guidelines to objectively evaluate genetic variant pathogenicity in domestic animals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 11, 1497817. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1497817

For a feline classification, also cite the species-specific application: Boeykens et al. (2024), Front Vet Sci, 11, 1327081, https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1327081. Then cite the specific OMIA entry (format below). Read the AVCG source page for what it is and how Sniff applies it.

Upstream sources to cite alongside

The Sniff Atlas is downstream of years of work by other research groups. If your use depends on any of these layers, cite them too. The attribution chain matters.

CanVAS, the genotype substrate

The harmonized, imputed canine variant atlas every dog in Sniff is sourced from. CC-BY 4.0. Cite as:

Brundage, D. M., et al. (2026). CanVAS: A Harmonized and Imputed Canine Variant Atlas. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718238. Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19186944.

NHGRI 722 (Plassais 2019), the non-circular validation cohort

The 722 directly-sequenced canine genomes used as the independent replication target for the Sniff Atlas frequencies (r = 0.760 vs the Sniff imputed AFs). CC-BY 4.0. Cite as:

Plassais, J., et al. (2019). Whole genome sequencing of canids reveals genomic regions under selection and variants influencing morphology. Nature Communications, 10, 1489. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09373-w.

Donner et al. 2023, the breed-by-Mendelian-variant carrier-frequency layer

The breed-by-variant carrier-frequency knowledge-graph layer integrated into Sniff Atlas v1.0.1. Cite as the source paper:

Donner, J., Freyer, J., Davison, S., Anderson, H., Blades, M., Honkanen, L., et al. (2023). Genetic prevalence and clinical relevance of canine Mendelian disease variants in over one million dogs. PLOS Genetics, 19(2), e1010651. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010651.

OMIA, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals

The canonical reference for canine genetic diseases. OMIA's official citing guidance: cite the database overall plus the specific entry. Database citation:

Nicholas, F.W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (2026). Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. https://omia.org/. https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70

OMIA numbers are binomial: OMIA:NNNNNN-9615 (NNNNNN = the 6-digit trait/disorder number; 9615 = the NCBI taxonomy id for dog), e.g. OMIA:000162-9615 for CDDY. To cite a specific entry:

Nicholas, F.W., Tammen, I., & Sydney Informatics Hub. (year last edited). OMIA:000162-9615: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) [dataset]. https://omia.org/. https://doi.org/10.25910/2AMR-PV70

Read the full OMIA source page · how Sniff uses it and why it is the ground truth our pathogenicity is calibrated against.

VBO, the Vertebrate Breed Ontology

The canonical, cross-species standard for breed names and breed identity, built by the Monarch Initiative in collaboration with OMIA. Sniff's breed-identity backbone across 147 breeds (canonical IDs, alternate names, foundation-stock lineage, registry cross-refs, and the OMIA breed join). CC-BY 4.0. Cite as:

Mullen, K. R., Tammen, I., Matentzoglu, N. A., Mather, M., Balhoff, J. P., Esdaile, E., Leroy, G., Park, C. A., Rando, H. M., Saklou, N. T., Webb, T. L., Vasilevsky, N. A., Mungall, C. J., Haendel, M. A., Nicholas, F. W., & Toro, S. (2025). The Vertebrate Breed Ontology: Toward Effective Breed Data Standardization. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 39(4), e70133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.70133

Browse it on OLS (canonical IRI purl.obolibrary.org/obo/vbo.owl) · source: github.com/monarch-initiative/vertebrate-breed-ontology. Each breed page links its specific VBO term and registry IDs inline, under "Names & origins". Read the full VBO source page.

Dog10K, the imputation reference panel

The 1,929-genome WGS reference panel used by CanVAS for imputation. Cite the consortium paper:

Meadows, J. R. S., et al. (2023). Genome sequencing of 2000 canids by the Dog10K consortium advances the understanding of demography, genome function and architecture. Genome Biology, 24, 187. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-023-03023-7.

Golden Retriever Lifetime Study (GRLS)

If your work specifically uses the 3,197 GRLS dogs in the atlas (the "Heroes" cohort), cite the cohort description:

Guy, M. K., & Page, R. L. (2022). Golden Retriever Lifetime Study cohort description. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269425. Data: Morris Animal Foundation, Golden Retriever Lifetime Study.

Darwin's Ark (Lord 2025)

The 3,277 Darwin's Ark mixed-breed dogs in the atlas come from the Lord et al. 2025 PNAS release on Dryad. CC0 public domain. Cite as:

Lord, K. A., et al. (2025). Genetic testing predicts appearance but not behavior in dogs. PNAS. Dryad data deposit: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb4r.

A request

If your work, your tool, or your downstream product builds on the Sniff Atlas or any Sniff page, please link back to sniff.world.

The atlas grows when researchers, vets, and dog owners can find their way back to the source. Citations + visible attribution + links back are how that flywheel works. CC-BY 4.0 requires the attribution; the link back is the favor.

If you spot an error in this citation page (wrong DOI, wrong year, missing source we should add), email matt@sniff.world. We answer.

Last updated June 6, 2026

Sources: Sniff Atlas v1.0.1 (Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.20566358) · CanVAS (Brundage 2026) · NHGRI 722 (Plassais 2019) · Donner 2023 · OMIA · AVCG (Boeykens 2024), for variant classifications, not in the Atlas DOI · VBO (Mullen 2025) · Dog10K · GRLS · Darwin's Ark

Cite Sniff.

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