diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
index 79d5f4f..480b0e8 100644
--- a/CITATION.cff
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ cff-version: 1.2.0
 message: "If you use VCF-RDFizer in your research, please cite it using the metadata below."
 title: "VCF-RDFizer"
 type: software
-version: "3.3.0"
+version: "3.3.1"
 authors:
   - name: "VCF-RDFizer maintainers"
 repository-code: "https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b745fa9..525e5eb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ inside this directory.
 - `tsv`: VCF -> TSV only (benchmarking)
 - `compress`: compress an existing `.nt` or `.nt.gz`
 - `decompress`: decompress `.nt.gz`, `.nt.br`, `.hdt`, `.cottas`, `.cottas.gz`, or `.cottas.br`
-- `validation`: compare a source VCF with its `.nt` or `.nt.gz` RDF using six semantic SPARQL queries
+- `validation`: compare a source VCF with its `.nt` or `.nt.gz` RDF using thirteen semantic SPARQL queries
 - `index`: only generate or regenerate the query index for an existing `.hdt` or `.cottas`
 
 In `full` mode with multiple VCF inputs, failures are isolated per input:
@@ -1124,7 +1124,7 @@ Safe termination:
 
 If you use VCF-RDFizer in a publication, please cite:
 
-VCF-RDFizer maintainers. (2026). *VCF-RDFizer* (Version 3.3.0) [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer
+VCF-RDFizer maintainers. (2026). *VCF-RDFizer* (Version 3.3.1) [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer
 
 BibTeX:
 
@@ -1133,7 +1133,7 @@ BibTeX:
   author  = {{VCF-RDFizer maintainers}},
   title   = {VCF-RDFizer},
   year    = {2026},
-  version = {3.3.0},
+  version = {3.3.1},
   url     = {https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer},
   note    = {Computer software}
 }
diff --git a/conda-recipe/README.md b/conda-recipe/README.md
index 964bb2f..84d65b0 100644
--- a/conda-recipe/README.md
+++ b/conda-recipe/README.md
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ do not submit this package to `staged-recipes`.
 
 ## Before submitting to conda-forge
 
-1. Commit the version bump, then create and push a Git tag (for example `v3.3.0`).
+1. Commit the version bump, then create and push a Git tag (for example `v3.3.1`).
 2. Download the source tarball and compute sha256:
    ```bash
    curl -L -o vcf-rdfizer.tar.gz \
-     https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer/archive/refs/tags/v3.3.0.tar.gz
+     https://github.com/ecrum19/VCF-RDFizer/archive/refs/tags/v3.3.1.tar.gz
    shasum -a 256 vcf-rdfizer.tar.gz
    ```
 3. Replace `version` and `sha256` in the feedstock's `recipe/meta.yaml`.
diff --git a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
index 35b981d..812045f 100644
--- a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% set name = "vcf-rdfizer" %}
-{% set version = "3.3.0" %}
+{% set version = "3.3.1" %}
 
 package:
   name: {{ name|lower }}
diff --git a/docs/datalinking.md b/docs/datalinking.md
index 641a2f3..5fea7b7 100644
--- a/docs/datalinking.md
+++ b/docs/datalinking.md
@@ -132,9 +132,10 @@ Chromosome names must match exactly (`1` and `chr1` are different) unless the
 manifest declares `vcfl:contigAliases`: a digest-pinned sequence map (§4, allele
 identity) through which both the GFF3 seqids and the records' contigs resolve to
 an accession. `ensembl-genes-grch38` uses one, so Ensembl's `17` meets `chr17`.
-There is no liftover. Symbolic alleles,
-breakends, and spanning-deletion `*` records are skipped and counted in
-`skipped_records`. The runner does not interpret INFO/END or confidence ranges.
+There is no liftover. Symbolic alleles and
+breakends are skipped and counted in `skipped_records`; a spanning-deletion
+`*` keeps the record's REF span, so it is linked (it was skipped up to v3.3.0).
+The runner does not interpret INFO/END or confidence ranges.
 It uses explicit DNA REF spans, including their anchor base, rather than an
 inferred biological affected region.
 
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@ identifiers outside repeats equal NCBI's SPDI exactly. Inside a repeat they
 differ from NCBI's contextual form but denote the same allele. That is checked
 against recorded NCBI answers in
 [vcf-rdfizer-testing `plugin-tests/spdi/`](https://github.com/ecrum19/vcf-rdfizer-testing/tree/main/plugin-tests). Symbolic alleles, breakends,
-`*` and `.` are skipped and counted, as for the interval join.
+`*` and `.` are skipped and counted: they have no allele sequence to express.
 
 ## 5. Tier 3: a narrow Python resolver
 
diff --git a/docs/limitations.md b/docs/limitations.md
index 37b47e4..f3b35d9 100644
--- a/docs/limitations.md
+++ b/docs/limitations.md
@@ -253,6 +253,16 @@ not implemented. See [`datalinking.md`](datalinking.md) for the
 implemented contract and [`datalinking-design.md`](datalinking-design.md) for
 the remaining proposal. The base graph remains a faithful, separate artifact.
 
+**A rule over links reaches only linked records.** `vcfp:LinkedSelector`
+selects records through their calls' links, so a record a linker could not key
+is never selected: a prohibition on a gene panel does not reach a symbolic
+allele or breakend inside the panel, because the gene linkers key explicit REF
+spans only. The link report counts these records per linker
+(`skipped_records`). Check it before relying on such a prohibition, or add a
+`vcfp:RegionSelector` over the same coordinates. Up to v3.3.0 the gene linkers
+also skipped `*` alleles, which released 13 records in cancer-predisposition
+genes to a research view of one whole genome; v3.3.1 links them.
+
 **No disclosure control.** Conversion is all-or-nothing: every sample, every
 genotype, every header line and every free-text `Description` goes into the
 graph, and there is no way to withhold a participant, degrade a region, or
diff --git a/docs/policy-demonstrator.md b/docs/policy-demonstrator.md
index 3678ad6..dee8d56 100644
--- a/docs/policy-demonstrator.md
+++ b/docs/policy-demonstrator.md
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@ ex:panel a odrl:Asset , vcfp:GraphSelection ;
 
 It fails closed: a graph with no `?predicate` triple at all, because the link
 graph was left out, is refused rather than evaluated as selecting nothing.
+It does not fail closed per record: a record the linker could not key (the
+link report's `skipped_records`) is never selected, so a prohibition on a
+panel does not reach it.
 
 Selector types are read from the profile files, and also from the policy file
 itself, so a policy can bring its own (§8).
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1675d36..9d020bf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "vcf-rdfizer"
-version = "3.3.0"
+version = "3.3.1"
 description = "Docker-first VCF to RDF conversion targeting the VCF Core vocabulary, with compressed queryable representations (HDT, COTTAS), semantic validation, and data linking"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
diff --git a/test/test_linking_unit.py b/test/test_linking_unit.py
index 816c622..3169b6c 100644
--- a/test/test_linking_unit.py
+++ b/test/test_linking_unit.py
@@ -148,7 +148,11 @@ def test_interval_closed_boundaries_ref_span_and_exact_chromosome(self):
         self.assertEqual(list(index.overlaps(LinkKey(chrom="chr1", start=100, end=100))), [])
         row = next(r for r in read_vcf(EXAMPLE) if isinstance(r, Record))
         self.assertEqual(keys_for(replace(row, pos="99", ref="AT"), self.interval), [LinkKey(chrom="1", start=99, end=100)])
-        for alt in ("<DEL>", "*", "N]2:20]"):
+        # `*` and `.` keep the REF span; END, symbolic alleles and breakends do not.
+        for alt in ("*", "G,*", "."):
+            self.assertEqual(keys_for(replace(row, pos="99", ref="AT", alt=alt), self.interval),
+                             [LinkKey(chrom="1", start=99, end=100)])
+        for alt in ("<DEL>", "N]2:20]", "G,<DEL>", "*,<DEL>"):
             self.assertEqual(keys_for(replace(row, alt=alt), self.interval), [])
 
     def test_nested_gff_features_are_not_missed(self):
@@ -688,6 +692,14 @@ def test_chr17_and_17_both_reach_a_gene_declared_on_17(self):
                            allele_record("17", 150, "A", "G", row=2), allele_record("chr17", 250, "A", "G", row=3))
         self.assertEqual(linked, {"1": {"https://example.org/GENE_A"}, "2": {"https://example.org/GENE_A"}})
 
+    def test_a_spanning_deletion_allele_links_to_the_gene_it_lies_in(self):
+        # NB72462M has 13 `*` records in cancer genes; unlinked, a rule withholding
+        # those genes from research released them.
+        linked = self.link(self.manifest(), allele_record("chr17", 150, "AT", "*", row=1),
+                           allele_record("chr17", 199, "C", "T,*", row=2),
+                           allele_record("chr17", 150, "A", "<DEL>", row=3))
+        self.assertEqual(linked, {"1": {"https://example.org/GENE_A"}, "2": {"https://example.org/GENE_A"}})
+
     def test_an_unmapped_contig_still_matches_by_name(self):
         linked = self.link(self.manifest(), allele_record("chrUn_x", 10, "A", "G"))
         self.assertEqual(linked, {"1": {"https://example.org/GENE_U"}})
diff --git a/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/ensembl-genes-grch38/README.md b/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/ensembl-genes-grch38/README.md
index f734172..440f3fb 100644
--- a/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/ensembl-genes-grch38/README.md
+++ b/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/ensembl-genes-grch38/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ Contig names are resolved through the GRCh38 sequence map
 `17` and a VCF's `chr17` meet. Only `gene` features count (21,581 in release
 116, including all protein-coding genes); `ncRNA_gene` and pseudogenes do not.
 
+A record's span is its REF span whatever its ALT, `*` included. Symbolic
+alleles and breakends, whose extent is END or a mate, are not linked; the
+report counts them in `skipped_records`.
+
 ```bash
 vcf-rdfizer-link run -i sample.vcf --link ensembl-genes-grch38 -o sample.links.nt
 ```
diff --git a/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/gene-demo/README.md b/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/gene-demo/README.md
index 2eaf602..3823914 100644
--- a/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/gene-demo/README.md
+++ b/vcf_rdfizer_data/linkers/gene-demo/README.md
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ vcf-rdfizer-link dry-run my-gene-linker -i sample.vcf --limit 100
 
 Intervals are 1-based closed; keys cover POS through POS + len(REF) - 1. The
 example contains overlapping genes A/B and a gene C on chromosome 2. Exons are
-ignored. Chromosome names match exactly. Symbolic alleles are skipped.
+ignored. Chromosome names match exactly. A `*` ALT keeps the REF span;
+symbolic alleles and breakends are skipped.
 
 For a real reference, change the plug-in ID, reference URL, actual SHA-256,
 assembly and object template. Point `idAttribute` at the GFF3 attribute your
diff --git a/vcf_rdfizer_linking/runner.py b/vcf_rdfizer_linking/runner.py
index 50b94ba..88528d5 100644
--- a/vcf_rdfizer_linking/runner.py
+++ b/vcf_rdfizer_linking/runner.py
@@ -110,8 +110,11 @@ def keys_for(record, manifest):
         return keys
     # POS and GFF3 intervals are both 1-based closed. Explicit REF spans only;
     # END, symbolic alleles and breakends require a different coordinate policy.
+    # `*` (an allele spanning an upstream deletion) and `.` leave the REF span
+    # as written, so they key like any other ALT: skipping them would let a
+    # rule that selects records by their genes miss records inside those genes.
     if not re.fullmatch(r"[ACGTNacgtn]+", record.ref) or any(
-            not re.fullmatch(r"[ACGTNacgtn]+|\.", alt) for alt in record.alt.split(",")):
+            not re.fullmatch(r"[ACGTNacgtn]+|[.*]", alt) for alt in record.alt.split(",")):
         return []
     try:
         start = int(record.pos)