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  1. To export or not export from phruta
  2. From taxonomic names to sequence alignments, exporting

To export or not export from phruta

Assembling a molecular dataset for particular target taxa with phruta can be performed almost entirely by saving objects into your workspace. This topic was covered in the introductory vignette to phruta (Using the phruta R package). However, in some situations, it might be desirable to save the outputs of different phruta functions to particular folders. This tutorial will cover that specific situation. Specifically, we will be reviewing how phruta can be used to export .fasta and .csv files that are generated in different steps of the pipeline.

From taxonomic names to sequence alignments, exporting data

In the introductory vignette to phruta (Using the phruta R package), we assembled a basic molecular dataset for inferring the phylogeny among three mammal genera. Let’s recreate the same tutorial, but in this case, exporting the intermediate files that are created after using several of the functions. Note that the structure of this tutorial closely follows that of “Using the phruta R package”. You should be able to follow this tutorial even without having reviewed the introductory vignette.

Please assume that we are interested in building a phylogenetic tree for the following three genera: Felis, Vulpes, and Phoca. All these three genera are classified within the Carnivora, a mammalian order. Both Felis and Vulpes are classified in different superfamilies within the Fissipedia. Finally, Phoca is part of another suborder, Pinnipedia. We’re going to root our tree with another mammal species, a Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). Users can select additional target species and clades. However, for simplicity, we will run the analyses using three genera in the ingroup and a single outgroup species.

So far, we have decided the taxonomic make of our analyses in phruta. We will also need to determine the gene regions to be used in our analyses. Fortunately, mammals are extensively studied and a comprehensive list of potential gene regions to be analyzed is already available. For instance, we could use same gene regions sampled in Upham et al (2009). However, for this tutorial, we will simply try to find the gene regions are well sampled for the target taxa. I believe that figuring out the best sampled gene regions in genbank, instead of providing gene names, is potentially more valuable when working with poorly studied groups (e.g. invertebrates). Before we move on, please make sure that you you have set a working directory for this project. All the files will be saved to this directory. phruta will politely ask before writing files to your local directories.

Let’s start by loading phruta!

Now, let’s look for the gene regions that are sampled for our target taxa. Again, this step is not always necessary. In some groups, gene-level sampling is very standard (e.g. COI, 12S). However, the structure of gene sampling sometimes becomes more blurry as you zoom out taxonomically. For instance, genes A and B can be extensively sampled in genus 1. However, genus 2 in the same family has mainly been studied using genes Y and Z. The idea here is that phruta will try to find those gene regions that are extensively sampled across species in the target taxa. We will use the gene.sampling.retrieve() function in phruta. The resulting data.frame, named gs.seqs in this example, will contain the list of full names for genes sampled in genbank for the target taxa.

gs.seqs <- gene.sampling.retrieve(organism = c("Felis", "Vulpes", "Phoca", "Manis_pentadactyla"), 
                                  speciesSampling = TRUE)

For the search terms used above, phruta was able to retrieve the names for 1594 gene regions. In the table below I summarize a few of those genes, with sampling frequency calculated at the level of species (see speciesSampling = TRUE argument above).

Gene sampling for the search including the genera Felis, Vulpes, Phoca as the ingroup taxa. Manis pentadactyla was used as outgroup.
Gene Sampled in N species PercentOfSampledSpecies
cytochrome b 25 75.75758
NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 14 42.42424
12S ribosomal RNA 11 33.33333
cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 11 33.33333
growth hormone receptor 11 33.33333
interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein 10 30.30303

Thus, the gene.sampling.retrieve() function provides an estimate of the number of species in genbank that matches the taxonomic criteria and have sequences for a given gene region. Note that the estimates recovered by gene.sampling.retrieve() are only as good as the annotations that other researchers have provided for sequences deposited in genbank.

From here, we will generate a preliminary table summarizing accession numbers for the combination of taxa and gene regions that we’re interested in sampling. However, note that not all these accession numbers are expected to be in the final (curated) molecular dataset. For instance, several sequences might be dropped later after taxonomic information is curated. Now, we will assemble a species-level summary of accession numbers using the acc.table.retrieve() function. For simplicity, this tutorial will focus on sampling gene regions that are sampled in >30% of the species (targetGenes data.frame).

targetGenes <- gs.seqs[gs.seqs$PercentOfSampledSpecies > 30,]

acc.table <- acc.table.retrieve(
            clades  = c('Felis', 'Vulpes', 'Phoca'),
            species = 'Manis_pentadactyla' ,
            genes   = targetGenes$Gene,
            speciesLevel = TRUE
          )

The acc.table object is a data.frame that will be used below for downloading the relevant gene sequences. In this case, the dataset includes the following information:

Accession numbers for the relevant species and gene regions examined in this tutorial.
Species Ti Acc gene
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris silvestris isolate FS_101 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial OL654361 cytochrome b
Felis catus Felis catus MKRaS008 mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b, partial cds LC649705 cytochrome b
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate Jungle Cat 5 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN370575 cytochrome b
Felis environmental Felis environmental sample isolate Kw-170 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MK510873 cytochrome b
Felis margarita Felis margarita haplotype AH NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes, partial cds; and tRNA-Thr gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MK606132 cytochrome b
Felis bieti Felis bieti cytochrome b gene, partial cds; mitochondrial AY773081 cytochrome b
F.domesticus mitochondrial F.domesticus mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82296 cytochrome b
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes isolate LH198 haplotype FOX14 cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MK244493 cytochrome b
Vulpes corsac Vulpes corsac isolate SH21 cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial MT795179 cytochrome b
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda isolate X161349 cytochrome b (Cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MH854561 cytochrome b
Vulpes cana Vulpes cana isolate B.F.Y3 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KU378587 cytochrome b
Vulpes rueppellii Vulpes rueppellii isolate R.F.Y6 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KU378373 cytochrome b
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus haplotype 5 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX093945 cytochrome b
Vulpes ferrilata Vulpes ferrilata haplotype 1 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial EU872065 cytochrome b
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis cytochrome b (cytb) gene, mitochondrial gene encoding mitochondrial protein, partial cds AF028157 cytochrome b
Vulpes pallida Vulpes pallida haplotype PMa2 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KJ597964 cytochrome b
V.vulpes mitochondrial V.vulpes mitochondrial DNA for cytochrome b (complete sequence) X94929 cytochrome b
Phoca largha Phoca largha PLCBRe4 mitochondrial cytb gene for cytochrome b, partial cds LC466149 cytochrome b
Pagophilus groenlandicus Pagophilus groenlandicus cytochrome b gene, partial cds; mitochondrial gene for mitochondrial product AF200491 cytochrome b
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica cytochrome b (cytb) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU174609 cytochrome b
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata cytochrome b (cytb) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU167294 cytochrome b
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, partial cds L19127 cytochrome b
P.vitulina mitochondrial P.vitulina mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82306 cytochrome b
P.largha mitochondrial P.largha mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82305 cytochrome b
P.groenlandica mitochondrial P.groenlandica mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82303 cytochrome b
P.fasciata mitochondrial P.fasciata mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82302 cytochrome b
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla isolate ST08 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MW197469 cytochrome b
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris silvestris isolate FS_101 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial OL654361 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis catus Felis catus isolate 4709-K NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN313781 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis margarita Felis margarita haplotype AH NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes, partial cds; and tRNA-Thr gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MK606132 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate JCAIZ003 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial GU561700 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus ATP synthase F0 subunit 6 (ATP6), ATP synthase F0 subunit 8 (ATP8), cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1), cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COX2), cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (COX3), cytochrome b (CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 (ND3), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4L (ND4L), and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) genes, complete cds; mitochondrial AH014073 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial gene for mitochondrial product AY377376 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU167331 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis catus Felis catus voucher N22b 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX786344 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate G 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KU963205 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX002032 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis bieti Felis bieti 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial AY773084 12S ribosomal RNA
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes Vv1 mitochondrial gene for 12S ribosomal RNA, partial sequence LC424764 12S ribosomal RNA
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus isolate FRT12 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KM224240 12S ribosomal RNA
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata isolate 5888 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GU174595 12S ribosomal RNA
Phoca largha Phoca largha isolate 06spotted03 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GU174591 12S ribosomal RNA
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; and tRNA-Val gene, complete sequence; mitochondrial AY012154 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis catus Felis catus voucher Cat_KU cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN124254 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis nigripes Felis nigripes voucher NZG:BWP38761 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX012677 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis margarita Felis margarita voucher 198_Fe_mar cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KF297765 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes voucher BIOUG:HBL008452 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443560 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes chama Vulpes chama voucher NZG:BWP38701 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX012672 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus voucher HBL008485 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443554 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox voucher ROM 105399 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443557 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina voucher HBL008389 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443364 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca largha Phoca largha voucher HBL008423 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443363 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica voucher HBL008364 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443362 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla isolate KFBG_HZ0050 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KT428152 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis catus Felis catus growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205829 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885401 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885400 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes corsac Vulpes corsac growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885399 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885393 growth hormone receptor
Alopex lagopus Alopex lagopus growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885379 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205838 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205837 growth hormone receptor
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds GU931127 growth hormone receptor
Phoca largha Phoca largha growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205827 growth hormone receptor
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205825 growth hormone receptor
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, exon 10 and partial cds EU448992 growth hormone receptor
Felis catus Felis catus interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene, exon 1 Z11811 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene, partial cds AF179293 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) gene, exon 1 and partial cds JN414784 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris haplotype W23 tRNA-Pro gene and control region, partial sequence; mitochondrial MF353436 tRNA-Pro
Felis catus Felis catus mitochondrial tRNA-Pro gene and control region, partial sequence AF348642 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes isolate VvUAE056 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MT955893 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes rueppellii Vulpes rueppellii isolate VrKSAA0005 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MT955814 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus haplotype H11 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX093931 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis haplotype Vmac1 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KJ846673 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda haplotype Vzer1 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KJ846672 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes ferrilata Vulpes ferrilata haplotype 4 D-loop, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial JF520840 tRNA-Pro
Phoca largha Phoca largha isolate pl27 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial OM967017 tRNA-Pro
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina isolate N tRNA-Thr (trnT) gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro (trnP) gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial HQ702987 tRNA-Pro
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla isolate MPP5 tRNA-Pro gene, partial sequence; D-loop, complete sequence; and tRNA-Phe gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GQ232081 tRNA-Pro

Feel free to review this dataset, make changes, add new species, samples, etc. The integrity of this dataset is critical for the next steps so please take your time and review it carefully. For instance, let’s just make some minor changes to our dataset:

acc.table$Species <- sub("P.", "Phoca ", acc.table$Species, fixed = TRUE)
acc.table$Species <- sub("F.", "Felis ", acc.table$Species, fixed = TRUE)
acc.table$Species <- sub("V.", "Vulpes ", acc.table$Species, fixed = TRUE)
acc.table$Species <- sub("mitochondrial", "", acc.table$Species)
row.names(acc.table) <- NULL

Let’s check how the new table looks now…

Updated Table 2 with some minor corrections on species names. Other updates to this table include adding more sequences, using specific sequences (instead of the ones suggested by phruta).
Species Ti Acc gene
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris silvestris isolate FS_101 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial OL654361 cytochrome b
Felis catus Felis catus MKRaS008 mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b, partial cds LC649705 cytochrome b
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate Jungle Cat 5 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN370575 cytochrome b
Felis environmental Felis environmental sample isolate Kw-170 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MK510873 cytochrome b
Felis margarita Felis margarita haplotype AH NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes, partial cds; and tRNA-Thr gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MK606132 cytochrome b
Felis bieti Felis bieti cytochrome b gene, partial cds; mitochondrial AY773081 cytochrome b
Felis domesticus F.domesticus mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82296 cytochrome b
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes isolate LH198 haplotype FOX14 cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MK244493 cytochrome b
Vulpes corsac Vulpes corsac isolate SH21 cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial MT795179 cytochrome b
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda isolate X161349 cytochrome b (Cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MH854561 cytochrome b
Vulpes cana Vulpes cana isolate B.F.Y3 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KU378587 cytochrome b
Vulpes rueppellii Vulpes rueppellii isolate R.F.Y6 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KU378373 cytochrome b
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus haplotype 5 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX093945 cytochrome b
Vulpes ferrilata Vulpes ferrilata haplotype 1 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial EU872065 cytochrome b
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis cytochrome b (cytb) gene, mitochondrial gene encoding mitochondrial protein, partial cds AF028157 cytochrome b
Vulpes pallida Vulpes pallida haplotype PMa2 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KJ597964 cytochrome b
Vulpes vulpes V.vulpes mitochondrial DNA for cytochrome b (complete sequence) X94929 cytochrome b
Phoca largha Phoca largha PLCBRe4 mitochondrial cytb gene for cytochrome b, partial cds LC466149 cytochrome b
Pagophilus groenlandicus Pagophilus groenlandicus cytochrome b gene, partial cds; mitochondrial gene for mitochondrial product AF200491 cytochrome b
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica cytochrome b (cytb) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU174609 cytochrome b
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata cytochrome b (cytb) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU167294 cytochrome b
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, partial cds L19127 cytochrome b
Phoca vitulina P.vitulina mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82306 cytochrome b
Phoca largha P.largha mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82305 cytochrome b
Phoca groenlandica P.groenlandica mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82303 cytochrome b
Phoca fasciata P.fasciata mitochondrial cytochrome b gene X82302 cytochrome b
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla isolate ST08 cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MW197469 cytochrome b
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris silvestris isolate FS_101 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (cytb) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial OL654361 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis catus Felis catus isolate 4709-K NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, complete cds; tRNA-Glu gene, complete sequence; and cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN313781 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis margarita Felis margarita haplotype AH NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes, partial cds; and tRNA-Thr gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MK606132 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate JCAIZ003 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial GU561700 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus ATP synthase F0 subunit 6 (ATP6), ATP synthase F0 subunit 8 (ATP8), cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX1), cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COX2), cytochrome c oxidase subunit III (COX3), cytochrome b (CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 (ND3), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4L (ND4L), and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) genes, complete cds; mitochondrial AH014073 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial gene for mitochondrial product AY377376 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) gene, complete cds; mitochondrial GU167331 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5
Felis catus Felis catus voucher N22b 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX786344 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis chaus Felis chaus isolate G 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KU963205 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX002032 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis bieti Felis bieti 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial AY773084 12S ribosomal RNA
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes Vv1 mitochondrial gene for 12S ribosomal RNA, partial sequence LC424764 12S ribosomal RNA
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus isolate FRT12 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial KM224240 12S ribosomal RNA
Phoca fasciata Phoca fasciata isolate 5888 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GU174595 12S ribosomal RNA
Phoca largha Phoca largha isolate 06spotted03 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GU174591 12S ribosomal RNA
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla 12S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence; and tRNA-Val gene, complete sequence; mitochondrial AY012154 12S ribosomal RNA
Felis catus Felis catus voucher Cat_KU cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial MN124254 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis nigripes Felis nigripes voucher NZG:BWP38761 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX012677 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis margarita Felis margarita voucher 198_Fe_mar cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KF297765 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes voucher BIOUG:HBL008452 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443560 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes chama Vulpes chama voucher NZG:BWP38701 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KX012672 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus voucher HBL008485 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443554 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox voucher ROM 105399 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443557 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina voucher HBL008389 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443364 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca largha Phoca largha voucher HBL008423 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443363 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica voucher HBL008364 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, partial cds; mitochondrial JF443362 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla isolate KFBG_HZ0050 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene, partial cds; mitochondrial KT428152 cytochrome oxidase subunit 1
Felis catus Felis catus growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205829 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885401 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885400 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes corsac Vulpes corsac growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885399 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885393 growth hormone receptor
Alopex lagopus Alopex lagopus growth hormone receptor gene, exon 10 and partial cds AY885379 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205838 growth hormone receptor
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205837 growth hormone receptor
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds GU931127 growth hormone receptor
Phoca largha Phoca largha growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205827 growth hormone receptor
Phoca groenlandica Phoca groenlandica growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, partial cds DQ205825 growth hormone receptor
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, exon 10 and partial cds EU448992 growth hormone receptor
Felis catus Felis catus interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene, exon 1 Z11811 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Vulpes velox Vulpes velox interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene, partial cds AF179293 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP) gene, exon 1 and partial cds JN414784 interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein
Felis silvestris Felis silvestris haplotype W23 tRNA-Pro gene and control region, partial sequence; mitochondrial MF353436 tRNA-Pro
Felis catus Felis catus mitochondrial tRNA-Pro gene and control region, partial sequence AF348642 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes vulpes Vulpes vulpes isolate VvUAE056 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MT955893 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes rueppellii Vulpes rueppellii isolate VrKSAA0005 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial MT955814 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes lagopus Vulpes lagopus haplotype H11 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KX093931 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes macrotis Vulpes macrotis haplotype Vmac1 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KJ846673 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes zerda Vulpes zerda haplotype Vzer1 tRNA-Pro gene and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial KJ846672 tRNA-Pro
Vulpes ferrilata Vulpes ferrilata haplotype 4 D-loop, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial JF520840 tRNA-Pro
Phoca largha Phoca largha isolate pl27 tRNA-Thr gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial OM967017 tRNA-Pro
Phoca vitulina Phoca vitulina isolate N tRNA-Thr (trnT) gene, partial sequence; tRNA-Pro (trnP) gene, complete sequence; and D-loop, partial sequence; mitochondrial HQ702987 tRNA-Pro
Manis pentadactyla Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla isolate MPP5 tRNA-Pro gene, partial sequence; D-loop, complete sequence; and tRNA-Phe gene, partial sequence; mitochondrial GQ232081 tRNA-Pro

Now, since we’re going to retrieve sequences from genbank using an existing preliminary accession numbers table, we will use the sq.retrieve.indirect() function in phruta. I’m going to spend some time in here to explain the differences between the two versions of sq.retrieve.* in phruta. The one that we’re using in this tutorial, sq.retrieve.indirect(), retrieves sequences “indirectly” because it follows the initial step of generating a table summarizing accession numbers (see the acc.table.retrieve() function above). I present the information in this vignette using sq.retrieve.indirect() instead of sq.retrieve.direct() because the first function is way more flexible and allows for correcting issues prior to download any sequence. For instance, you can add new sequences, species, populations to the resulting data.frame from acc.table.retrieve(). Additionally, you could even manually assemble your own dataset of accession numbers to be retrieved using sq.retrieve.indirect(). Instead, sq.retrieve.direct() does its best to directly (i.e. without potential input from the user) retrieve sequences for a target set of taxa and set of gene regions. In short, you should be able to catch errors using sq.retrieve.indirect() but mistakes will be harder to spot and fix if you’re using sq.retrieve.direct(). Note that the functionality of sq.retrieve.direct() is outlined in the “Using phruta with defined target genes” vignette.

We still need to retrieve all the sequences from the accessions table that was generated avobe using acc.table. The sq.retrieve.indirect() function will write all the resulting fasta files into a newly created folder 0.Sequences located in our working directory (please check the download.sqs = TRUE argument).

sq.retrieve.indirect(acc.table, download.sqs = TRUE)

Next, we’re going to make sure that we include only sequences that are reliable and from species that we are actually interested in analyzing. For this, we will be using the sq.curate() function. We need to provide a list of taxonomic names to filter out incorrect sequences (filterTaxonomicCriteria argument). For simplicity, our criteria can be the genera that we’re interested in analyzing. Note that the outgroup’s name should also be included in the list. If the taxonomic information for a sequence retrieved from genbank does not match with any of these strings, this species will be dropped. You will have to specify whether sampling is for animals or plants (kingdom argument). Finally, you might have already noticed that the same gene regions can have different names. For instance, sometimes our searches retrieve both “cytochrome oxidase subunit 1” and “cytochrome c oxidase subunit I” as widely sampled genes for the target species. In that case, we can combine the sequences in these two files into a single file name COI. To merge gene files, you will have to provide a named list to the mergeGeneFiles argument of the sq.curate function. This named list (tb.merged below) will have a length that corresponds to the number of final files that should be constructed.

tb.merged <- list('COI' = c("cytochrome oxidase subunit 1", "cytochrome c oxidase subunit I"))
sq.curate(filterTaxonomicCriteria = 'Felis|Vulpes|Phoca|Manis',
          mergeGeneFiles = tb.merged,
          kingdom = 'animals', 
          folder = '0.Sequences',
          removeOutliers = FALSE)

Running the line of code above will create the a folder 1.CuratedSequences containing (1) the curated sequences with original names, (2) the curated sequences with species-level names (renamed_* prefix), (3) a table of accession numbers (0.AccessionTable.csv), and (4) a summary of the taxonomic information for all the species sampled in the files (1.Taxonomy.csv). We’ll use the renamed_* and 1.Taxonomy.csv files in the next steps. Let’s take a look at the sampling per gene region in the 0.AccessionTable.csv table.

4. Preliminary accession number table
OriginalNames AccN Species file OldSpecies
KX786344 Felis catus KX786344 Felis_catus 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Felis_catus
KU963205 Felis chaus KU963205 Felis_chaus 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Felis_chaus
KX002032 Felis silvestris KX002032 Felis_silvestris 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Felis_silvestris
AY773084 Felis bieti AY773084 Felis_bieti 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Felis_bieti
LC424764 Vulpes vulpes LC424764 Vulpes_vulpes 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Vulpes_vulpes
KM224240 Vulpes lagopus KM224240 Vulpes_lagopus 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Vulpes_lagopus
GU174595 Phoca fasciata GU174595 Histriophoca_fasciata 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Phoca_fasciata
GU174591 Phoca largha GU174591 Phoca_largha 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Phoca_largha
AY012154 Manis pentadactyla AY012154 Manis_pentadactyla 12S ribosomal RNA.fasta Manis_pentadactyla
OL654361 Felis silvestris OL654361 Felis_silvestris cytochrome b.fasta Felis_silvestris
LC649705 Felis catus LC649705 Felis_catus cytochrome b.fasta Felis_catus
MN370575 Felis chaus MN370575 Felis_chaus cytochrome b.fasta Felis_chaus
MK606132 Felis margarita MK606132 Felis_margarita cytochrome b.fasta Felis_margarita
AY773081 Felis bieti AY773081 Felis_bieti cytochrome b.fasta Felis_bieti
MK244493 Vulpes vulpes MK244493 Vulpes_vulpes cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_vulpes
MT795179 Vulpes corsac MT795179 Vulpes_corsac cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_corsac
MH854561 Vulpes zerda MH854561 Vulpes_zerda cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_zerda
KU378587 Vulpes cana KU378587 Vulpes_cana cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_cana
KU378373 Vulpes rueppellii KU378373 Vulpes_rueppellii cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_rueppellii
KX093945 Vulpes lagopus KX093945 Vulpes_lagopus cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_lagopus
EU872065 Vulpes ferrilata EU872065 Vulpes_ferrilata cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_ferrilata
AF028157 Vulpes macrotis AF028157 Vulpes_macrotis cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_macrotis
KJ597964 Vulpes pallida KJ597964 Vulpes_pallida cytochrome b.fasta Vulpes_pallida
LC466149 Phoca largha LC466149 Phoca_largha cytochrome b.fasta Phoca_largha
GU174609 Phoca groenlandica GU174609 Pagophilus_groenlandicus cytochrome b.fasta Phoca_groenlandica
GU167294 Phoca fasciata GU167294 Histriophoca_fasciata cytochrome b.fasta Phoca_fasciata
L19127 Phoca vitulina L19127 Phoca_vitulina cytochrome b.fasta Phoca_vitulina
MW197469 Manis pentadactyla MW197469 Manis_pentadactyla cytochrome b.fasta Manis_pentadactyla
MN124254 Felis catus MN124254 Felis_catus cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Felis_catus
KX012677 Felis nigripes KX012677 Felis_nigripes cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Felis_nigripes
KF297765 Felis margarita KF297765 Felis_margarita cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Felis_margarita
JF443560 Vulpes vulpes JF443560 Vulpes_vulpes cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Vulpes_vulpes
KX012672 Vulpes chama KX012672 Vulpes_chama cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Vulpes_chama
JF443554 Vulpes lagopus JF443554 Vulpes_lagopus cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Vulpes_lagopus
JF443557 Vulpes velox JF443557 Vulpes_velox cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Vulpes_velox
JF443364 Phoca vitulina JF443364 Phoca_vitulina cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Phoca_vitulina
JF443363 Phoca largha JF443363 Phoca_largha cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Phoca_largha
JF443362 Phoca groenlandica JF443362 Pagophilus_groenlandicus cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Phoca_groenlandica
KT428152 Manis pentadactyla KT428152 Manis_pentadactyla cytochrome oxidase subunit 1.fasta Manis_pentadactyla
DQ205829 Felis catus DQ205829 Felis_catus growth hormone receptor.fasta Felis_catus
AY885401 Vulpes vulpes AY885401 Vulpes_vulpes growth hormone receptor.fasta Vulpes_vulpes
AY885400 Vulpes macrotis AY885400 Vulpes_macrotis growth hormone receptor.fasta Vulpes_macrotis
AY885399 Vulpes corsac AY885399 Vulpes_corsac growth hormone receptor.fasta Vulpes_corsac
AY885393 Vulpes zerda AY885393 Vulpes_zerda growth hormone receptor.fasta Vulpes_zerda
AY885379 Alopex lagopus AY885379 Vulpes_lagopus growth hormone receptor.fasta Alopex_lagopus
DQ205838 Vulpes velox DQ205838 Vulpes_velox growth hormone receptor.fasta Vulpes_velox
GU931127 Phoca vitulina GU931127 Phoca_vitulina growth hormone receptor.fasta Phoca_vitulina
DQ205827 Phoca largha DQ205827 Phoca_largha growth hormone receptor.fasta Phoca_largha
DQ205825 Phoca groenlandica DQ205825 Pagophilus_groenlandicus growth hormone receptor.fasta Phoca_groenlandica
EU448992 Manis pentadactyla EU448992 Manis_pentadactyla growth hormone receptor.fasta Manis_pentadactyla
OL654361 Felis silvestris OL654361 Felis_silvestris NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Felis_silvestris
MN313781 Felis catus MN313781 Felis_catus NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Felis_catus
MK606132 Felis margarita MK606132 Felis_margarita NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Felis_margarita
GU561700 Felis chaus GU561700 Felis_chaus NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Felis_chaus
AH014073 Vulpes lagopus AH014073 Vulpes_lagopus NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Vulpes_lagopus
AY377376 Phoca groenlandica AY377376 Pagophilus_groenlandicus NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Phoca_groenlandica
GU167331 Phoca fasciata GU167331 Histriophoca_fasciata NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5.fasta Phoca_fasciata
MF353436 Felis silvestris MF353436 Felis_silvestris tRNA-Pro.fasta Felis_silvestris
AF348642 Felis catus AF348642 Felis_catus tRNA-Pro.fasta Felis_catus
MT955893 Vulpes vulpes MT955893 Vulpes_vulpes tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_vulpes
MT955814 Vulpes rueppellii MT955814 Vulpes_rueppellii tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_rueppellii
KX093931 Vulpes lagopus KX093931 Vulpes_lagopus tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_lagopus
KJ846673 Vulpes macrotis KJ846673 Vulpes_macrotis tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_macrotis
KJ846672 Vulpes zerda KJ846672 Vulpes_zerda tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_zerda
JF520840 Vulpes ferrilata JF520840 Vulpes_ferrilata tRNA-Pro.fasta Vulpes_ferrilata
OM967017 Phoca largha OM967017 Phoca_largha tRNA-Pro.fasta Phoca_largha
HQ702987 Phoca vitulina HQ702987 Phoca_vitulina tRNA-Pro.fasta Phoca_vitulina
GQ232081 Manis pentadactyla GQ232081 Manis_pentadactyla tRNA-Pro.fasta Manis_pentadactyla

We’ll now align the sequences that we just curated. For this, we just use sq.aln() with default parameters. We need to indicate that we’re interested in aligning only the "renamed" fasta files in our 1.CuratedSequences folder.

sq.aln(folder = '1.CuratedSequences', FilePatterns = "renamed")

The resulting multiple sequence alignments will be saved to the 2.Alignments folder. In that new folder, we will have two types of files: (1) raw alignments (same file names as in 1.CuratedSequences) and (2) alignments with ambiguous sites removed (Masked_* prefix). Masked alignments are only created if the mask argument in sq.aln is set to TRUE. In that case, one additional .csv file is created for each of the alignments (0.Masked.Information_*). Each of these datasets list the number of sites in the masked alignment that (1) are not gaps (NonGaps column), (2) if the sequence was removed due to the elevated number of gaps (removedPerGaps; controlled using the threshold argument in sq.aln), or (3) if it was removed directly in the masking step (removedMasking). Note that, for some gene regions, making can fail. In that case, only the original alignment file is saved to the 2.Alignments folder.

Note that we could use these resulting alignments directly to infer our phylogenies. We cover these steps within phruta in another vignette: “Phylogenetics with the phruta R package”. For now, let’s wrap up and plot one of our (cool) alignments. Let’s first check the raw alignments!

A figure showing raw alignments

Now, the masked alignments…!!

A figure showing curated alignments

And we’re done for now!! Thanks for following this tutorial…:)

In total, this vignette took 11 minutes to render in my local machine. You can now try to run phruta using your favorite groups organisms! Don’t forget to check the other tutorials and get in touch if you find any issues…Buena suerte!