Biological Science Research Center at Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
University of California, Berkeley 400715, China.
Brief Bioinform. 2021 Sep 2;22(5). doi: 10.1093/bib/bbab108.
Venn diagrams are widely used tools for graphical depiction of the unions, intersections and distinctions among multiple datasets, and a large number of programs have been developed to generate Venn diagrams for applications in various research areas. However, a comprehensive review comparing these tools has not been previously performed. In this review, we collect Venn diagram generators (i.e. tools for visualizing the relationships of input lists within a Venn diagram) and Venn diagram application tools (i.e. tools for analyzing the relationships between biological data and visualizing them in a Venn diagram) to compare their functional capacity as follows: ability to generate high-quality diagrams; maximum datasets handled by each program; input data formats; output diagram styles and image output formats. We also evaluate the picture beautification parameters of the Venn diagram generators in terms of the graphical layout and briefly describe the functional characteristics of the most popular Venn diagram application tools. Finally, we discuss the challenges in improving Venn diagram application tools and provide a perspective on Venn diagram applications in bioinformatics. Our aim is to assist users in selecting suitable tools for analyzing and visualizing user-defined datasets.
韦恩图是一种广泛用于描绘多个数据集的并集、交集和区别的图形工具，已经开发了大量的程序来生成韦恩图，用于各个研究领域的应用。然而，以前并没有对这些工具进行全面的比较。在这篇综述中，我们收集了韦恩图生成器（即用于可视化输入列表在韦恩图中的关系的工具）和韦恩图应用工具（即用于分析生物数据之间的关系并将其可视化在韦恩图中的工具），以比较它们的功能能力如下：生成高质量图形的能力；每个程序处理的最大数据集；输入数据格式；输出图形样式和图像输出格式。我们还根据图形布局评估了韦恩图生成器的美化参数，并简要描述了最流行的韦恩图应用工具的功能特点。最后，我们讨论了改进韦恩图应用工具的挑战，并对生物信息学中的韦恩图应用提供了一个视角。我们的目的是帮助用户选择合适的工具来分析和可视化用户定义的数据集。
