Hi, there,

I was able to use biomaRt before but I just got error message when I did :

> ensembl = useMart("ensembl")

Space required after the Public Identifier
SystemLiteral " or ' expected
SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
Premature end of data in tag html line 2

Error: 1: Space required after the Public Identifier
2: SystemLiteral " or ' expected
3: SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
4: Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
5: Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
6: Premature end of data in tag html line 2

I checked the Biomart website and found that they said "BioMart community portal temporarily unavailable" and " If you are a user of biomaRt (a part of the Bioconductor library) change the host from 'www.biomart.org' to 'www.ensembl.org'. "

> listMarts(host='www.ensembl.org')
               biomart               version
1 ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL      Ensembl Genes 82
2     ENSEMBL_MART_SNP  Ensembl Variation 82
3 ENSEMBL_MART_FUNCGEN Ensembl Regulation 82
4    ENSEMBL_MART_VEGA               Vega 62
5                pride        PRIDE (EBI UK)

> ensembl = useMart("ensembl")
Space required after the Public Identifier
SystemLiteral " or ' expected
SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
Premature end of data in tag html line 2
Error: 1: Space required after the Public Identifier
2: SystemLiteral " or ' expected
3: SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing
4: Opening and ending tag mismatch: hr line 7 and body
5: Opening and ending tag mismatch: body line 4 and html
6: Premature end of data in tag html line 2

Does anyone know how to change the host? 

Thanks.

>listMarts(host="www.ensembl.org")
               biomart               version
1 ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL      Ensembl Genes 82
2     ENSEMBL_MART_SNP  Ensembl Variation 82
3 ENSEMBL_MART_FUNCGEN Ensembl Regulation 82
4    ENSEMBL_MART_VEGA               Vega 62
5                pride        PRIDE (EBI UK)

3 types have changed in use:

listMarts(host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="mmusculus_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="hsapiens_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="aplatyrhynchos_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="drerio_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="ggallus_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="oaries_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="rnorvegicus_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

useMart("ENSEMBL_MART_ENSEMBL",dataset="sscrofa_gene_ensembl", host="www.ensembl.org")

listMarts(host="metazoa.ensembl.org")

useMart("metazoa_mart",dataset="bmori_eg_gene", host="metazoa.ensembl.org")

useMart("metazoa_mart",dataset="amellifera_eg_gene", host="metazoa.ensembl.org")

useMart("metazoa_mart",dataset="cgigas_eg_gene", host="metazoa.ensembl.org")

listMarts(host="plants.ensembl.org")

useMart("plants_mart",dataset="zmays_eg_gene", host="plants.ensembl.org")

useMart("plants_mart",dataset="sbicolor_eg_gene", host="plants.ensembl.org")

useMart("plants_mart",dataset="stuberosum_eg_gene", host="plants.ensembl.org")

useMart("plants_mart",dataset="osativa_eg_gene", host="plants.ensembl.org")

useMart("plants_mart",dataset="creinhardtii_eg_gene", host="plants.ensembl.org")