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ucsc_table2gff3.pl

A program to convert UCSC gene tables to GFF3 or GTF annotation.

SYNOPSIS

 ucsc_table2gff3.pl --ftp <text> --db <text>
 
 ucsc_table2gff3.pl [--options] --table <filename>

UCSC database options:
-f --ftp [refgene|known|all]          specify what tables to retrieve from UCSC
          
-d --db <text>                        UCSC database name: hg19,hg38,danRer7, etc
-h --host <text>                      specify UCSC hostname

Input file options:
-t --table <filename>                 name of table, repeat or comma list
-k --kgxref <filename>                kgXref file
-c --chromo <filename>                chromosome file

Conversion options:
--source <text>                       source text, default UCSC
--chr   | --nochr         (true)      include chromosomes in output
--gene  | --nogene        (true)      assemble into genes
--cds   | --nocds         (true)      include CDS subfeatures
--utr   | --noutr         (false)     include UTR subfeatures
--codon | --nocodon       (false)     include start and stop codons
--share | --noshare       (true)      share subfeatures
--name  | --noname        (false)     include name
-g --gtf                              convert to GTF instead of GFF3

General options:
-z --gz                               compress output
-v --version                          print version and exit
-h --help                             show extended documentation

OPTIONS

The command line flags and descriptions:

UCSC database options

• –ftp [refgene

  known

  all]

  Request that the current indicated tables and supporting files be downloaded from UCSC via FTP. Four different tables may be downloaded, including refGene, and the UCSC knownGene table (if available). Specify all to download all tables. A comma delimited list may also be provided.

• –db <text>

  Specify the genome version database from which to download the requested table files. See http://genome.ucsc.edu/FAQ/FAQreleases.html for a current list of available UCSC genomes. Examples included hg19, mm9, and danRer7.

• –host <text>

  Optionally provide the host FTP address for downloading the current gene table files. The default is ‘hgdownload.cse.ucsc.edu’.

Input file options

• –table <filename>

  Provide the name of a UCSC gene or gene prediction table. Tables known to work include the refGene, ensGene, xenoRefGene, and UCSC knownGene tables. Both simple and extended gene prediction tables, as well as refFlat tables are supported. The file may be gzipped. When converting multiple tables, use this option repeatedly for each table. The --ftp option is recommended over using this one.

• –kgxref <filename>

  Optionally provide the name of the kgXref file. This file provides additional information for the UCSC knownGene gene table. The file may be gzipped.

• –chromo <filename>

  Optionally provide the name of the chromInfo text file. Chromosome and/or scaffold features will then be written at the beginning of the output GFF file (when processing a single table) or written as a separate file (when processing multiple tables). The file may be gzipped.

Conversion options

• –source <text>

  Optionally provide the text to be used as the GFF source. The default is automatically derived from the source table file name, if recognized, or ‘UCSC’ if not recognized.

• –(no)chr

  When downloading the current gene tables from UCSC using the --ftp option, indicate whether (or not) to include the chromInfo table. The default is true.

• –(no)gene

  Specify whether (or not) to assemble mRNA transcripts into genes. This will create the canonical gene->mRNA->(exon,CDS) heirarchical structure. Otherwise, mRNA transcripts are kept independent. The gene name, when available, are always associated with transcripts through the Alias tag. The default is true.

• –(no)cds

  Specify whether (or not) to include CDS features in the output GFF file. The default is true.

• –(no)utr

  Specify whether (or not) to include three_prime_utr and five_prime_utr features in the transcript heirarchy. If not defined, the GFF interpreter must infer the UTRs from the CDS and exon features. The default is false.

• –(no)codon

  Specify whether (or not) to include start_codon and stop_codon features in the transcript heirarchy. The default is false.

• –(no)share

  Specify whether exons, UTRs, and codons that are common between multiple transcripts of the same gene may be shared in the GFF3. Otherwise, each subfeature will be represented individually. This will reduce the size of the GFF3 file at the expense of increased complexity. If your parser cannot handle multiple parents, set this to –noshare. Due to the possibility of multiple translation start sites, CDS features are never shared. This will have no effect with GTF output. The default is true.

• –(no)name

  Specify whether you want subfeatures, including exons, CDSs, UTRs, and start and stop codons to have display names. In most cases, this information is not necessary. This will have no effect with GTF output. The default is false.

• –gtf

  Specify that a GTF (version 2.5) format file should be written instead of GFF3. Yes, the name of the program says GFF3, but now we can output GTF too, and changing the name of the program is too late now.

General options

• –gz

  Specify whether the output file should be compressed with gzip.

• –version

  Print the version number.

• –help

  Display the POD documentation

DESCRIPTION

This program will convert a UCSC gene or gene prediction table file into a GFF3 (or optionally GTF) format file. It will build canonical gene->transcript->[exon, CDS, UTR] heirarchical structures. It will attempt to identify non-coding genesas to type using the gene name as inference. Various additional informational attributes may also be included with the gene and transcriptfeatures, which are derived from supporting table files.

Two table files are currently supported. Gene prediction tables, including refGene and UCSC knownGene are supported. Supporting tables include kgXref.

Tables obtained from UCSC are typically in the extended GenePrediction format, although simple genePrediction and refFlat formats are also supported. See http://genome.ucsc.edu/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format9 regarding UCSC gene prediction table formats.

The latest table files may be automatically downloaded using FTP from UCSC or other host. Since these files are periodically updated, this may be the best option. Alternatively, individual files may be specified through command line options. Files may be obtained manually through FTP, HTTP, or the UCSC Table Browser.

If provided, chromosome and/or scaffold features will be written as GFF3-style sequence-region pragmas (even for GTF files, just in case).

If you need to set up a database using UCSC annotation, you should first take a look at the BioToolBox script db_setup.pl, which provides a convenient automated database setup based on UCSC annotation.

AUTHOR

Timothy J. Parnell, PhD
Huntsman Cancer Institute
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, 84112

This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License 2.0.