Metadata for Sections

About metadata for sections

Purpose of metadata for sections

Define and name sections of a reference sequence. For references with many sections, it is more convenient, reproducible, and traceable to define the sections in a file than on the command line, using the option --sections-file (-s). The sections file additionally permits giving each section a name.

Fields of metadata for sections

Name

Type

Description

Required

Section

str

Name of the section being defined

yes

Reference

str

Name of the reference of which the section is part

yes

5’ End

int

Coordinate of the section’s 5’ end (1-indexed, inclusive)

no

3’ End

int

Coordinate of the section’s 3’ end (1-indexed, inclusive)

no

Forward Primer

str

Sequence of the forward primer for the section

no

Reverse Primer

str

Sequence of the reverse primer for the section

no

Notes about metadata for sections

  • Fields are case-sensitive and must be in the file’s first line.

  • The 5’ end can be defined in the field 5' End, which is a numeric coordinate, 1-indexed and included in the section. An alternative way to specify the 5’ end for amplicon-based samples is to type the forward primer in the field Forward Primer. The primer must match the reference sequence exactly at exactly one location. The section’s 5’ end is placed downstream of the forward primer, with a gap whose length is set via the option --primer-gap.

  • The 3’ end can be defined in the field 3' End, which is a numeric coordinate, 1-indexed and included in the section. An alternative way to specify the 3’ end for amplicon-based samples is to type the reverse primer in the field Reverse Primer. The reverse complement of the primer must match the reference sequence exactly at exactly one location. The section’s 3’ end is placed upstream of the reverse primer, with a gap whose length is set via the option --primer-gap.

Example metadata for sections

Metadata for sections as a pretty table

Section

Reference

5’ End

3’ End

Forward Primer

Reverse Primer

5utr

MyFavRNA

1

103

cds

MyFavRNA

104

2368

3utr

MyFavRNA

2369

2695

thing1

OtherRef

ACCCGTAACTATCG

TACAGGTCCGCATG

Metadata for sections as plain text

Section,Reference,5' End,3' End,Forward Primer,Reverse Primer
5utr,MyFavRNA,1,103,,
cds,MyFavRNA,104,2368,,
3utr,MyFavRNA,2369,2695,,
thing1,OtherRef,,,ACCCGTAACTATCG,TACAGGTCCGCATG

This text can be copied into a new CSV file.