maskfeat

 

Function

Mask off features of a sequence

Description

maskfeat reads in a sequence with its associated features. The features can be found in the annotation of the sequence if it is in a format such as EMBL or SWISSPROT which includes features in the annotation, or they may be supplied explicitly in a GFF file by using the command-lin option '-gff filename'.

The feature table is then searched for features whose type matches the specified feature type to be masked. By default, the type is 'repeat*' (i.e. any type whose name starts with 'repeat'). You can specify the name of any other type of feature, or features that you wish to mask. If you wish to specify more than one type of feature, separate their names with spaces or commas. The names of the types of feature to be found may be wild-carded with asterisks '*' to find gruops of feature types sharing a common part of their names.

If you are unsure of the names of feature types in use, please consult http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/ for a list of the EMBL feature types and see Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a list of the Swissprot feature types.

If any features matching the specified names of feature types are found, then those regions of the sequence will be masked out by replacing that part of the sequence by masking characters. The default masking characters are 'X' for a protein sequence and 'N' for a nucleic acid sequence, although you can specify your own masking character, if required.

Usage

Here is a sample session with maskfeat. It masks out a feature whose type is "repeat_region" from position 2331 to 2356:

% maskfeat em:AB000360
Mask off features of a sequence.
Output sequence [ab000360.fasta]:    

Command line arguments

   Mandatory qualifiers:
  [-sequence]          seqall     Sequence database USA
  [-outseq]            seqout     Output sequence USA

   Optional qualifiers:
   -type               string     By default any feature in the feature table
                                  with a type starting 'repeat' is masked. You
                                  can set this to be any feature type you
                                  wish to mask.
                                  See http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/
                                  for a list of the EMBL feature types and see
                                  Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in
                                  http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a
                                  list of the Swissprot feature types.
                                  The type may be wildcarded by using '*'.
                                  If you wish to mask more than one type,
                                  separate their names with spaces or commas,
                                  eg:
                                  *UTR repeat*
   -maskchar           string     Character to use when masking.
                                  Default is 'X' for protein sequences, 'N'
                                  for nucleic sequences.

   Advanced qualifiers: (none)
   General qualifiers:
  -help                boolean    Report command line options. More
                                  information on associated and general
                                  qualifiers can be found with -help -verbose


Mandatory qualifiers Allowed values Default
[-sequence]
(Parameter 1)
Sequence database USA Readable sequence(s) Required
[-outseq]
(Parameter 2)
Output sequence USA Writeable sequence <sequence>.format
Optional qualifiers Allowed values Default
-type By default any feature in the feature table with a type starting 'repeat' is masked. You can set this to be any feature type you wish to mask. See http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/ for a list of the EMBL feature types and see Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a list of the Swissprot feature types. The type may be wildcarded by using '*'. If you wish to mask more than one type, separate their names with spaces or commas, eg: *UTR repeat* Any string is accepted repeat*
-maskchar Character to use when masking. Default is 'X' for protein sequences, 'N' for nucleic sequences. Any string is accepted 'X' for protein, 'N' for nucleic
Advanced qualifiers Allowed values Default
(none)

Input file format

It reads in a sequence USA. You can optionally specify a GFF feature file to use with the command-line option '-gff filename'.

Output file format

A normal, masked, sequence file.

The output from the above example is:


>AB000360 AB000360 Homo sapiens PIGC gene, complete cds.
ggatccctgctgcagagggggtaacggtgtctggcttgccaagcaatatttgttgtggtc
tatcatggaagaaataaagtcgggcaatatgaattttttttttctcaaatttgccggatg
gctgtggtgtttctgactcttagttttctcattgtgaaaaaggaatgattatcttcttcg
atcctctcaagagtttccttgttttgagtagattgatagctctttaaaggatgctaagct
cagctaatggaagaagagtctagtttctttgaggctttgattttggttaaactatagagc
tcatacctttctgtatggtgcagcttactattgtctttggattggtaacttaaaaaatac
aaataacatgcctttgagaaccaataaaaactatggatattatccctataaatttacaca
aatccagatataagcatgcaatgtgatatacctaagggatatgtgaaccactgagttaag
aactgctttagagggagatacaatgtgagacacaggctttgggataagactttggtttga
atcctggctctgctctgttaccttagggcaaagttacttaagcatcttgaatctcagctt
ttttaccaaagcaggactaatactaacttacaaggtggtgaggattaagtgaaagaagat
acataaggcacttagcacatagtaggtactcaataagcgatagctaacagatgtctatta
ttattcaaggaattataattttcaaatctgaaatgcagttttaatgtcccataaggtgac
taccacatacatttttctcagacttttagtaaactgagttgatttgactttatctcagta
ctactcttgacctttcacaactttcgtaggttcacagtctctctttttctaggaacttgg
ctgtgttgtcctgcctcagagacaaattcatctattgtaggcctagcccctgcctttgaa
aacaaggaaaggttggtagaacatcaacacagcatggaatttccagggaggtctcatttc
aaaacttcataaagaacaagaaccacctggacttctgtgagggcgatgattaaactggcc
tgagtttgaatgaaaggataatgtatgctcaacctgtgactaacaccaaggaggtcaagt
ggcagaaggtcttgtatgagcgacagccctttcctgataactatgtggaccggcgattcc
tggaagagctccggaaaaacatccatgctcggaaataccaatattgggctgtggtatttg
agtccagtgtggtgatccagcagctgtgcagtgtttgtgtttttgtggttatctggtggt
atatggatgagggtcttctggccccccattggcttttagggactggcctggcttcttcac
tgattgggtatgttttgtttgatctcattgatggaggtgaagggcggaagaagagtgggc
agacccggtgggctgacctgaagagtgccctagtcttcattactttcacttatgggtttt
caccagtgctgaagacccttacagagtctgtcagcactgacaccatctatgccatgtcag
tcttcatgctgttaggccatctcatcttttttgactatggtgccaatgctgccattgtat
ccagcacactatccttgaacatggccatctttgcttctgtatgcttggcatcacgtcttc
cccggtccctgcatgccttcatcatggtgacatttgccattcagatttttgccctgtggc
ccatgttgcagaagaaactaaaggcatgtactccccggagctatgtgggggtcacactgc
tttttgcattttcagccgtgggaggcctactgtccattagtgctgtgggagccgtactct
ttgcccttctgctgatgtctatctcatgtctgtgttcattctacctcattcgcttgcagc
tttttaaagaaaacattcatgggccttgggatgaagctgaaatcaaggaagacttgtcca
ggttcctcagttaaattaggacatccattacattattaaagcaagctgatagattagcct
cctaactagtatagaacttaaagacagagttccattctggaagcagcatgtcattgtggt
aagagaatagagatcaaaaccaaaaaaaatgaaccaaaggcttgggtggtgagggtgctt
atcctttctgttattttgtagatgaaaaaactttctggggacctcttgaattacatgctg
taacatatgaagtgatgtggtttctattaaaaaaataacacatccatcaagttgtctcat
gatttttccataaacaggaggcagacagaggggcatgaagagtgaagtaaNNNNNNNNNN
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNaaagtcacttctttctacccttttcaatgtgctaatgctctttt
atttatctagggctcaaatcttagaacacagggtgctatgctcagttttgttgcccaaga
tcacagaattggttacttaaccttgactcagagtttctaccttgttcttagggaagcata
tcacaactaattgcaaagcagagtgtgatgtgtcacaataagcagaatgctagggggaat
tc

Data files

None.

Notes

None.

References

None.

Warnings

None.

Diagnostic Error Messages

None.

Exit status

It always exits with a status of 0.

Known bugs

None.

See also

Program nameDescription
biosedReplace or delete sequence sections
coderetExtract CDS, mRNA and translations from feature tables
cutseqRemoves a specified section from a sequence
degapseqRemoves gap characters from sequences
descseqAlter the name or description of a sequence
entretReads and writes (returns) flatfile entries
extractfeatExtract features from a sequence
extractseqExtract regions from a sequence
listorWrites a list file of the logical OR of two sets of sequences
maskseqMask off regions of a sequence
newseqType in a short new sequence
noreturnRemoves carriage return from ASCII files
notseqExcludes a set of sequences and writes out the remaining ones
nthseqWrites one sequence from a multiple set of sequences
pasteseqInsert one sequence into another
revseqReverse and complement a sequence
seqretReads and writes (returns) sequences
seqretsplitReads and writes (returns) sequences in individual files
showfeatShow features of a sequence
skipseqReads and writes (returns) sequences, skipping the first few
splitterSplit a sequence into (overlapping) smaller sequences
swissparseRetrieves sequences from swissprot using keyword search
trimestTrim poly-A tails off EST sequences
trimseqTrim ambiguous bits off the ends of sequences
unionReads sequence fragments and builds one sequence
vectorstripStrips out DNA between a pair of vector sequences
yankReads a sequence range, appends the full USA to a list file

maskseq simply masks a user-specified set of regions, without using annotated features.

Author(s)

This application was written by Gary Williams (gwilliam@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk)

History

Written (2000) - Gary Williams

Target users

This program is intended to be used by everyone and everything, from naive users to embedded scripts.

Comments