bio.gene

Look up a gene by its official symbol (e.g. "TP53", "BRCA1", "CFTR") and organism (taxid, default 9606 = human), merging NCBI Gene with UniProt. Returns the gene symbol, NCBI Gene ID, full description, organism, chromosome + cytogenetic map location, alias symbols, and the curated RefSeq function summary; plus the reviewed protein from UniProt — accession, entry id, recommended protein name, length in amino acids, and the curated function description. NCBI + UniProt links. Bioinformatics, clinical-genetics research, education. Public-domain NCBI + CC-BY UniProt data. Common organism taxids: human 9606, mouse 10090, zebrafish 7955, fruit fly 7227, yeast 559292.

price
$0.0019 USDC per call
method
GET/api/bio/gene
payment
x402 v2 · USDC on Base (EIP-3009) or Solana (SPL transfer)
auth
None. Sign the payment, retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE.

Overview

The gene API is a pay-per-call bio endpoint built for AI agents and autonomous software. Look up a gene by its official symbol (e.g.

There is no signup and no API key. An agent (or any HTTP client) hits the endpoint, receives an x402 "402 Payment Required" challenge, signs a sub-cent USDC payment on Base or Solana, and retries — the data comes back on the paid request. That makes it a drop-in gene data source for an agent tool-use loop, an MCP host, or a backend that needs bio data on demand without onboarding to yet another vendor portal.

Use cases

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
symbolrequiredstring
min 1 chars · max 30 chars
taxidinteger
min 1 · max 9999999

Code samples

cURLbash
# 1. Probe with no auth → 402 envelope with PaymentRequirements
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/bio/gene?symbol=example&taxid=9606'

# 2. Sign + retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE:
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/bio/gene?symbol=example&taxid=9606' \
  -H 'PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <base64-json-payload>'

# Or use the canonical runner (handles probe → sign → retry):
#   EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x... node --env-file=.env.local \
#     --experimental-strip-types scripts/x402-pay.ts \
#     'https://2s.io/api/bio/gene?symbol=example&taxid=9606'
TypeScript / Node — @2sio/sdktypescript
import { TwoS } from '@2sio/sdk'

const client = new TwoS({
  privateKey: process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`,
})

const result = await client.bio.gene({
  "symbol": "example",
  "taxid": 9606
})

console.log('endpoint:', result.endpoint)
console.log('cost:', result.costUsd, 'USDC')
console.log('tx:', result.settlement?.txHash)
console.log('data:', result.data)
Python — 2siopython
import os
from twosio import TwoS

client = TwoS(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])

result = client.bio.gene(symbol="example", taxid=9606)

print("endpoint:", result.endpoint)
print("cost:", result.cost_usd, "USDC")
print("tx:", (result.settlement or {}).get("tx_hash"))
print("data:", result.data)
MCP — Claude Desktop / AgentKit / any MCP hostjson
// 1. Add @2sio/mcp to your MCP host config (Claude Desktop example below).
//    EVM_PRIVATE_KEY funds x402 payments per call.

// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "2sio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@2sio/mcp"],
      "env": { "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x..." }
    }
  }
}

// 2. Once the server is running, agents call this tool via standard MCP:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "bio.gene",
    "arguments": {
      "symbol": "example",
      "taxid": 9606
    }
  }
}

Response

FieldTypeDescription
okboolean
one of: true
itemsarray
totalintegerTotal matching rows upstream; null when unknown.
sourceobject
metaobject
Example response datajson
{
  "ok": true,
  "items": [
    {
      "gene": {
        "symbol": "example",
        "ncbiGeneId": "example",
        "description": "example",
        "organism": {
          "scientificName": "example",
          "commonName": "example",
          "taxid": 1
        },
        "chromosome": "example",
        "mapLocation": "example",
        "aliases": [
          "example"
        ],
        "summary": "example",
        "protein": {
          "found": false,
          "uniprotAccession": "example",
          "uniprotId": "example",
          "name": "example",
          "lengthAa": 1,
          "function": "example"
        },
        "ncbiUrl": "example",
        "uniprotUrl": "example"
      }
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "source": {
    "provider": "example",
    "url": "example",
    "license": "example"
  },
  "meta": {
    "sources": [
      {
        "provider": "example",
        "url": "example",
        "license": "example"
      }
    ]
  }
}

FAQ

Do I need an API key to use the gene API?
No. bio.gene is x402-native — there is no signup and no API key. Your client makes the call, receives a 402 with payment requirements, signs a USDC payment, and retries. Funds come from a wallet you control.
How much does the gene API cost?
$0.00192 USDC per call, charged per request. There are no monthly fees, seats, or minimums — you pay only for the calls you make.
Can I try the gene API for free first?
Yes. Add ?trial=1 (or the header X-2s-Trial: 1) to get a free real call per endpoint per hour, so you can verify the response shape before wiring payment.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
USDC on Base (via EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization) or Solana (SPL transfer), using the open x402 payment protocol.
How do I call bio.gene from an AI agent or MCP host?
Use @2sio/sdk (TypeScript), 2sio (Python), or the @2sio/mcp server for any MCP host — each handles the probe → sign → retry loop for you. See the code samples on this page.

Discovery

Related: gene api · bio gene api · gene api for ai agents · x402 bio api · gene api no api key · pay per call gene api · bio api