RefSeq database

The refseq database from NCBI stores >100,000 complete genomes and drafts that compass all tree of life. We firstly construct an empty database folder and assigns default control parameters for the database.

sparse init --dbname refseq

Index refseq database or update an exising database

A second command allows SPARSE to download all genomes in refseq on-fly and construct the database. The efficiency of the indexing process depends on both the downloading speed and the number of assigned CPUs. When assigning 20 CPUs, you can expect the whole process to finish in about one day.

sparse index --dbname refseq --update

Be aware that the newly added genomes are not ready for metagenomic reads. You need to run another command to update your representative databases.

We also release a pre-compiled database named “refseq_20180519”, on the basis of NCBI RefSeq at 2018.05.19, at http://enterobase.warwick.ac.uk/sparse/

This database contains the MASH indexed master database and four default mapping databases:

representative
subpopulation
Virus
Eukaryota

As well as reference genomes for three important animal hosts:

Human
Swine
Bovine

To use the database, just download and untar the package (~350 GB):

curl -o refseq_20180519.tar.gz http://enterobase.warwick.ac.uk/sparse/refseq_20180519.tar.gz
tar -vxzf refseq_20180519.tar.gz

Custom databases

You can also create a custom database, or add in custom genomes to an old database.