The Genome Informatics Section is hiring! Come join our outstanding team at the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute and contribute to the development of new reference genomes and computational methods for DNA sequencing and analysis. Both postdoc and PhD students positions are available. More information and application instructions follow below.

More at https://genomeinformatics.github.io/

Genobuntu is a software package containing more than 70 software and packages oriented towards NGS. In its current version, Genobuntu supports pre assembly tools, genome assemblers as well as post assembly tools.

Commonly used biological software and example script files for different assembly pipelines have also been provided, where the example script files can be updated to suit one’s experimental needs. Genobuntu attempts to reduce the amount of time and energy needed to build software workstations and it can also act as a good teaching source for a class room setting.

Therefore, Genobuntu offers a well-tailored environment for both novices and experts working in the field of genome assembly.

Address of the bookmark: https://sourceforge.net/projects/genobuntu/

Mitofinder is a pipeline to assemble mitochondrial genomes and annotate mitochondrial genes from trimmed read sequencing data.

MitoFinder is also designed to find and annotate mitochondrial sequences in existing genomic assemblies (generated from Hifi/PacBio/Nanopore/Illumina sequencing data...)

MitoFinder is distributed under the license.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/RemiAllio/MitoFinder

Address of the bookmark: https://www.encodeproject.org/data-standards/reference-sequences/

Unique k-mer is consisted of k-mer keys (i.e. ATCGATCCTTAAGG) that are only presented in one contig, but not presented in any other contigs (for both forward and reverse strands).

This tool accepts the input of a FASTA file consisting of many contigs, and extract unique k-mers for each contig.

The output unique k-mer file and Genome file can be used for fastv: https://github.com/OpenGene/fastv, which is an ultra-fast tool to identify and visualize microbial sequences from sequencing data.

https://github.com/OpenGene/UniqueKMER

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/OpenGene/UniqueKMER

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/martinjvickers/KAST

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/sc932/ALE

To find repeats in a genome from 2 to 9 length using a Perl script, you can use the RepeatMasker tool with the "--length" option[0]. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Overview of SLiM and msprime

SLiM: Forward Genetic Simulator

SLiM is a free, open-source tool designed for forward genetic simulations. It allows researchers to model complex evolutionary scenarios, including selection, recombination, and demographic events, making it particularly useful for studying adaptation and selection in populations.

Key Features of SLiM:

• Simulates population evolution forward in time

• Supports custom evolutionary models using an embedded scripting language

• Allows modeling of spatial and ecological dynamics

• Provides high flexibility and extensibility for user-defined scenarios

• Available on GitHub as an open-source project

msprime: Ancestry and Mutation Simulator

msprime is an efficient, open-source tool that simulates ancestry and mutations using a coalescent framework. It is known for its high-speed performance and low memory requirements, making it a popular choice for large-scale genomic simulations.

Key Features of msprime:

• Implements coalescent simulations for ancestry modeling

• Efficiently simulates large population histories

• Supports the addition of mutations to genealogies

• Developed using an open-source community model

• Often faster and more memory-efficient than alternative simulators

Using SLiM and msprime with slendr

Both SLiM and msprime can be integrated with slendr, a framework that facilitates structured population genetic simulations. This integration allows for seamless comparison of simulation outputs.

How They Work Together:

• SLiM and msprime simulations can be analyzed within slendr.

• The ts_read() function in slendr enables loading and comparing tree sequence outputs from both simulators.

• This integration allows researchers to validate simulation results and gain deeper insights into evolutionary processes.

Performance Considerations

While SLiM offers powerful forward simulations with extensive customization, msprime is often preferred for its speed and memory efficiency when simulating ancestry and mutations. The choice between the two depends on the research goals:

• For detailed evolutionary modeling with selection and recombination: Use SLiM.

• For large-scale coalescent simulations with mutations: Use msprime.

• For comparing different simulation models and their outputs: Use slendr to integrate SLiM and msprime results.

Conclusion

SLiM and msprime are valuable tools for genome simulation, each serving distinct but complementary purposes in population genetics research. By leveraging the strengths of both simulators with slendr, researchers can conduct robust and efficient evolutionary simulations, enhancing our understanding of genetic diversity and adaptation.

For more information, check out the official GitHub repositories for SLiM and msprime, and explore the slendr framework for streamlined simulation workflow