BOL: Related items

FastGT: an alignment-free method for calling common SNVs directly from raw sequencing reads

Jit — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 03:27:33 -0600

FastGT is a program package for whole-genome genotyping of genome variants directly from raw sequencing reads. It is written in C and runs in Linux. FastGT uses a list of variant-specific k-mer pairs that are unique in human genome, counts the frequency of k-mers in sequencing data and predicts the genotype. All this takes less than 1 hour on average low-cost Linux server.

http://bioinfo.ut.ee/FastGT/

https://github.com/bioinfo-ut/GenomeTester4/

Address of the bookmark: http://bioinfo.ut.ee/FastGT/

Filtlong: quality filtering tool for long reads

Radha Agarkar — Wed, 13 May 2020 10:23:55 -0500

Filtlong is a tool for filtering long reads by quality. It can take a set of long reads and produce a smaller, better subset. It uses both read length (longer is better) and read identity (higher is better) when choosing which reads pass the filter.

Filtlong builds into a stand-alone executable:

git clone https://github.com/rrwick/Filtlong.git
cd Filtlong
make -j
bin/filtlong -h

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

mixtureS: a novel tool for bacterial strain reconstruction from reads

BioStar — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:23:19 -0500

mixtureS that can de novo identify bacterial strains from shotgun reads of a clonal or metagenomic sample, without prior knowledge about the strains and their variations. Tested on 243 simulated datasets and 195 experimental datasets, mixtureS reliably identified the strains, their numbers and their abundance. Compared with three tools, mixtureS showed better performance in almost all simulated datasets and the vast majority of experimental datasets.

Availability

The source code and tool mixtureS is available at http://www.cs.ucf.edu/˜xiaoman/mixtureS/.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~xiaoman/mixtureS/

Steps to find palindrome in genomes !

BioStar — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 02:56:54 -0600

Palindromes are sequences of nucleotides that read the same backward as forward. They can be present in genomes and have various biological functions. Here are some methods for discovering palindromes in genomes:

Direct sequence search: One of the simplest ways to discover palindromes is to search the genome sequence directly for palindromic sequences using pattern matching tools, such as regular expressions or string algorithms. This approach can be useful for discovering simple palindromes, but may miss more complex palindromic structures.
Dot plot analysis: Dot plot analysis is a graphical method that can be used to identify palindromic regions in a genome. It involves plotting the genome sequence against itself and examining the diagonal patterns that emerge. Palindromic regions will appear as symmetrical patterns along the diagonal.
Restriction enzyme analysis: Some restriction enzymes, such as EcoRI and HindIII, recognize palindromic sequences and cleave DNA at these sites. By digesting the genome with these enzymes and examining the resulting fragments, palindromic regions can be identified.
Next-generation sequencing: High-throughput sequencing technologies, such as PacBio and Oxford Nanopore, can generate long reads that can span entire palindromic regions. By mapping these reads to the genome, palindromic regions can be identified and characterized.
Comparative genomics: Comparing the genomes of related species can also reveal palindromic regions that are conserved across evolutionarily divergent lineages. This approach can help identify functional palindromes that are under selective pressure.

Overall, the discovery of palindromic sequences in genomes can be accomplished using a variety of methods, each with their own advantages and limitations. A combination of these methods can provide a comprehensive understanding of the palindromic landscape of a genome.

LoRMA: a tool for correcting sequencing errors in long reads such those produced by Pacific Biosciences sequencing machines

Jit — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 17:18:36 -0500

LoRMA is a tool for correcting sequencing errors in long reads such those produced by Pacific Biosciences sequencing machines.

Publication:

L. Salmela, R. Walve, E. Rivals, and E. Ukkonen: Accurate selfcorrection of errors in long reads using de Bruijn graphs. Accepted to RECOMB-Seq 2016.

Download:

Address of the bookmark: https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/lmsalmel/LoRMA/

ART: Set of Simulation Tools

Jit — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 08:28:25 -0500

ART is a set of simulation tools to generate synthetic next-generation sequencing reads. ART simulates sequencing reads by mimicking real sequencing process with empirical error models or quality profiles summarized from large recalibrated sequencing data. ART can also simulate reads using user own read error model or quality profiles. ART supports simulation of single-end, paired-end/mate-pair reads of three major commercial next-generation sequencing platforms: Illumina's Solexa, Roche's 454 and Applied Biosystems' SOLiD. ART can be used to test or benchmark a variety of method or tools for next-generation sequencing data analysis, including read alignment, de novo assembly, SNP and structure variation discovery. ART was used as a primary tool for the simulation study of the 1000 Genomes Project . ART is implemented in C++ with optimized algorithms and is highly efficient in read simulation. ART outputs reads in the FASTQ format, and alignments in the ALN format. ART can also generate alignments in the SAM alignment or UCSC BED file format. ART can be used together with genome variants simulators (e.g. VarSim) for evaluating variant calling tools or methods.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/software/biostatistics/art/

SpeedSeq

Jit — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 06:05:43 -0600

A flexible framework for rapid genome analysis and interpretation

C Chiang, R M Layer, G G Faust, M R Lindberg, D B Rose, E P Garrison, G T Marth, A R Quinlan, and I M Hall. SpeedSeq: ultra-fast personal genome analysis and interpretation. Nat Meth (2015). doi:10.1038/nmeth.3505.

http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmeth.3505.html

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/hall-lab/speedseq

QuorUM: An Error Corrector for Illumina Reads

Jit — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 11:40:41 -0600

Illumina Sequencing data can provide high coverage of a genome by relatively short (most often 100 bp to 150 bp) reads at a low cost. Even with low (advertised 1%) error rate, 100 × coverage Illumina data on average has an error in some read at every base in the genome. These errors make handling the data more complicated because they result in a large number of low-count erroneous k-mers in the reads. However, there is enough information in the reads to correct most of the sequencing errors, thus making subsequent use of the data (e.g. for mapping or assembly) easier. Here we use the term “error correction” to denote the reduction in errors due to both changes in individual bases and trimming of unusable sequence. We developed an error correction software called QuorUM. QuorUM is mainly aimed at error correcting Illumina reads for subsequent assembly. It is designed around the novel idea of minimizing the number of distinct erroneous k-mers in the output reads and preserving the most true k-mers, and we introduce a composite statistic π that measures how successful we are at achieving this dual goal. We evaluate the performance of QuorUM by correcting actual Illumina reads from genomes for which a reference assembly is available.

QuorUM is distributed as an independent software package and as a module of the MaSuRCA assembly software. Both are available under the GPL open source license at http://www.genome.umd.edu.

Address of the bookmark: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130821

Understanding HiFi Reads !

Rahul Nayak — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 19:48:11 -0500

While little public data is available for either of the new synthetic long read approaches, Illumina showed an example comparison earlier this year at the Festival of Genomics & Biodata conference (FoG 2022). In the IGV screenshot presented (below), synthetic Infinity reads – labeled “Longas” – are at the top, followed by standard Illumina short reads, and PacBio HiFi reads labeled “CCS” depicted at the bottom:

Address of the bookmark: http://pacb.com/blog/the-hifi-difference-true-long-reads-vs-synthetic-long-reads/

Trust But Verify: Sequencing Your Cell Lines Might Reveal an Uninvited Guest

LEGE — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:07:57 -0500

High-throughput sequencing has become indispensable in cell biology, enabling detailed insights into chromatin structure, gene expression, and regulatory dynamics. Yet, when faced with unexpectedly low mapping rates to the human genome, researchers often rush to troubleshoot technical parameters—sequencer quality, adapter trimming, or aligner settings.

Before you go down that path, consider this critical biological question:
Are you sequencing human cells—or bacterial contamination?

The Silent Saboteur: Mycoplasma in Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination remains one of the most widespread and underdiagnosed issues in tissue culture work. Studies suggest that 15–35% of cell lines in use may be contaminated, often without visible signs. Unlike other microbial infections, Mycoplasma does not produce cloudiness, odor, or a change in pH. Many researchers won’t detect it unless they specifically test for it.

The consequences, however, are profound. Mycoplasma can significantly alter:

Host gene expression patterns
Cell proliferation rates
Epigenetic profiles and chromatin accessibility
Cytokine signaling and immune responses

In short, it can skew your results, compromise your biological conclusions, and invalidate weeks or months of research.

A Simple Diagnostic Step: Map Against Mycoplasma Genomes

If you encounter poor alignment rates to the human genome, consider mapping your reads to a Mycoplasma reference genome—or better yet, use a combined human + Mycoplasma reference. There have been cases where over half of all reads, initially assumed to be from human cells, were in fact bacterial in origin. This check is fast, easy, and could save your project.

How Contamination Happens—and Persists

Mycoplasma is small (0.1–0.3 μm), lacks a cell wall, and can pass through standard filters undetected. Common sources include:

Contaminated reagents (e.g., FBS)
Infected cell lines obtained from other labs
Poor aseptic technique or shared equipment

Once present, it spreads quickly between cultures and can persist for months, silently affecting results.

Why Treatment Is Difficult

While antibiotics such as Plasmocin or BM-Cyclin are sometimes used, they often offer only partial resolution and may themselves alter cell behavior. In many cases, the best course of action is to discard the contaminated culture and start with a fresh, verified stock.

Practical Recommendations for Researchers

Routinely test for Mycoplasma using PCR, qPCR, or fluorescence-based assays
Incorporate contamination screens into your sequencing QC pipeline
Use combined reference genomes when mapping ambiguous reads
Practice strict aseptic technique and monitor all incoming cell lines
Don’t ignore unexplained data anomalies—they might point to contamination

Closing Thought: Contamination Is a Biological Variable

It’s easy to view poor mapping as a technical issue, but sometimes the problem lies deeper—in the biology itself. Mycoplasma contamination doesn’t just interfere with sequencing; it interferes with science. As a research community, we must treat contamination not as an afterthought, but as a key variable to control.

So next time your reads won’t align, don’t just tune the aligner. Ask if your cells are telling the truth—or if they're hiding something.