This is where KiNext comes into the picture. Introduced in a 2024 study published in BMC Bioinformatics, KiNext is a computational workflow designed to identify and classify protein kinases from predicted protein sequences. Instead of relying on a single search method, it brings together several approaches, including Hidden Markov Models, sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, and structural comparison.

The search begins with a simple question: does a protein contain the characteristics of a kinase? Protein kinases can change considerably during evolution, but important regions of their sequences often retain recognizable patterns. KiNext uses Hidden Markov Models, or HMMs, to detect these patterns. An HMM does not require a protein to be an exact match to a known kinase. Instead, it looks for a statistical sequence signature associated with kinase proteins, making it possible to detect more distant candidates.

Once potential kinases are identified, KiNext takes the analysis further. It distinguishes conventional eukaryotic protein kinases from atypical protein kinases and then attempts to classify them into different kinase groups and families. This distinction is important because simply identifying a protein as a kinase does not tell the complete story. Different kinase families can have very different evolutionary histories and biological functions.

The next stage brings evolution into the picture. KiNext can align kinase sequences and construct phylogenetic trees, allowing researchers to examine how newly identified proteins are related to previously characterized kinases. When sequence evidence alone is difficult to interpret, structural information can provide another clue. The workflow can incorporate AlphaFold-predicted structures and Foldseek-based structural comparisons to investigate whether an unusual protein resembles known kinase structures.

The researchers tested KiNext using two very different organisms: the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, and the green alga Ostreococcus tauri. In C. gigas, KiNext recovered previously reported kinases while identifying additional candidates. Structural analysis provided further evidence for many of the newly detected proteins. In O. tauri, the workflow similarly recovered most previously reported kinases and identified additional candidates while refining some of their classifications.

What makes KiNext particularly interesting is not just its ability to find kinases, but how the entire analysis is organized. The workflow uses Nextflow, allowing the different computational steps to be connected into a reproducible pipeline. Containers can also help manage software dependencies, making it easier to run the workflow across different computing environments.

This reproducibility becomes increasingly important as the number of available genomes continues to grow. A researcher studying one organism may be able to perform an analysis manually, but repeating the same process across hundreds or thousands of genomes quickly becomes impractical. A standardized workflow provides a way to perform the analysis consistently while keeping track of how the results were generated.

At its core, KiNext demonstrates a broader change taking place in modern genomics. Sequencing a genome provides an enormous amount of information, but the real scientific challenge begins afterward: understanding what all those sequences mean. Protein kinases are only one part of this larger puzzle, yet they are particularly important because they act as molecular switches throughout the cell.

By combining sequence profiles, evolutionary analysis, and structural evidence within a reproducible computational framework, KiNext provides researchers with a systematic way to uncover these molecular switches. Its real value lies not only in finding more kinases, but in making the process scalable, repeatable, and easier to apply to new genomes.

As genome sequencing continues to expand across the tree of life, tools such as KiNext can help turn enormous collections of protein sequences into meaningful biological stories—one kinase at a time.

Read more about it @

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12859-024-05953-w

https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/chromoMap/index.html

Address of the bookmark: http://fantom.gsc.riken.jp/zenbu/

java -Xms2G -Xmx4G -jar GenomeFinisher.jar  \
    -i target_contigs.fasta  \
    -ds alternative_assemblies.fasta -ref reference.fasta  \
    -o outputDirectory

Address of the bookmark: http://gfinisher.sourceforge.net

An algorithmically novel approach to construct a genome graph representation of long-read-based de novo sequence assemblies. We then provide a proof of principle by creating a genome graph of seven ethnically-diverse human genomes.

https://f1000research.com/articles/7-1391/v1

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/NCBI-Hackathons/NovoGraph

Racon is a great polishing tool that can be used to clean up assembly errors. It's also very fast and well suited for long-read data. However, it operates on FASTA files, not the GFA graphs that miniasm makes.

That's where Minipolish comes in. With a single command, it will use Racon to polish up a miniasm assembly, while keeping the assembly in graph form.

It also takes care of some of the other nuances of polishing a miniasm assembly:

• Adding read depth information to contigs
• Fixing sequence truncation that can occur in Racon
• Adding circularising links to circular contigs if not already present (so they display better in Bandage)
• 'Rotating' circular contigs between polishing rounds to ensure clean circularisation

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/rrwick/Minipolish

More at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.15.992941v1.full

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/marbl/merqury

To cite Mugsy, use:

Angiuoli SV and Salzberg SL. Mugsy: Fast multiple alignment of closely related whole genomes.Bioinformatics 2011 27(3):334-4

Address of the bookmark: http://mugsy.sourceforge.net/

https://github.com/zhangzhwlab/delta

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/zhangzhwlab/delta