MOTIVATION: Iso-Seq RNA long-read sequencing enables the identification of full-length transcripts and isoforms, removing the need for complex analysis such as transcriptome assembly. However, the raw sequencing data need to be processed in a series of steps before annotation is complete. Here, we present nf-core/isoseq, a pipeline for automatic read processing and genome annotation. Following nf-core guidelines, the pipeline has few dependencies and can be run on any of platforms. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The pipeline is freely available online on the nf-core website (https://nf-co.re/isoseq) and on GitHub (https://github.com/nf-core/isoseq) under MIT License (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7116979).

SUMMARY: Accurate gene prediction is essential for successful metagenome analysis. We present KOunt, a Snakemake pipeline, that precisely quantifies KEGG orthologue abundance. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: KOunt is available on GitHub: https://github.com/WatsonLab/KOunt. The KOunt reference database is available on figshare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21269715. Test data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22250152 and version 1.2.0 of KOunt at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23607834.

MOTIVATION: Metagenomics is a powerful tool for assaying the DNA from every genome present in an environment. Recent advances in bioinformatics have enabled the rapid assembly of near-complete metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), and there is a need for reproducible pipelines that can annotate and characterize thousands of genomes simultaneously, to enable identification and functional characterization. RESULTS: Here we present MAGpy, a scalable and reproducible pipeline that takes multiple genome assemblies as FASTA and compares them to several public databases, checks quality, suggests a taxonomy and draws a phylogenetic tree. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: MAGpy is available on github: https://github.com/WatsonLab/MAGpy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

MOTIVATION: Oxford Nanopore's MinION device has matured rapidly and is now capable of producing over one million reads and several gigabases of sequence data per run. The nature of the MinION output requires new tools that are easy to use by scientists with a range of computational skills and which enable quick and simple QC and data extraction from MinION runs. RESULTS: We have developed two GUIs for the R package poRe that allow parallel and real-time processing of MinION datasets. Both GUIs are capable of extracting sequence- and meta- data from large MinION datasets via a friendly point-and-click interface using commodity hardware. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The GUIs are packaged within poRe which is available on SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/rpore/files/ . CONTACT: [email protected].

SUMMARY: Rapid technological advances have led to an explosion of biomedical data in recent years. The pace of change has inspired new collaborative approaches for sharing materials and resources to help train life scientists both in the use of cutting-edge bioinformatics tools and databases and in how to analyse and interpret large datasets. A prototype platform for sharing such training resources was recently created by the Bioinformatics Training Network (BTN). Building on this work, we have created a centralized portal for sharing training materials and courses, including a catalogue of trainers and course organizers, and an announcement service for training events. For course organizers, the portal provides opportunities to promote their training events; for trainers, the portal offers an environment for sharing materials, for gaining visibility for their work and promoting their skills; for trainees, it offers a convenient one-stop shop for finding suitable training resources and identifying relevant training events and activities locally and worldwide. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: http://mygoblet.org/training-portal.

MOTIVATION: The Oxford Nanopore MinION device represents a unique sequencing technology. As a mobile sequencing device powered by the USB port of a laptop, the MinION has huge potential applications. To enable these applications, the bioinformatics community will need to design and build a suite of tools specifically for MinION data. RESULTS: Here we present poRe, a package for R that enables users to manipulate, organize, summarize and visualize MinION nanopore sequencing data. As a package for R, poRe has been tested on Windows, Linux and MacOSX. Crucially, the Windows version allows users to analyse MinION data on the Windows laptop attached to the device. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: poRe is released as a package for R at http://sourceforge.net/projects/rpore/. A tutorial and further information are available at https://sourceforge.net/p/rpore/wiki/Home/.

With the development of ultra-high-throughput technologies, the cost of sequencing bacterial genomes has been vastly reduced. As more genomes are sequenced, less time can be spent manually annotating those genomes, resulting in an increased reliance on automatic annotation pipelines. However, automatic pipelines can produce inaccurate genome annotation and their results often require manual curation. Here, we discuss the automatic and manual annotation of bacterial genomes, identify common problems introduced by the current genome annotation process and suggests potential solutions.

SUMMARY: RNA interference (RNAi) is known to play an important part in defence against viruses in a range of species. Second-generation sequencing technologies allow us to assay these systems and the small RNAs that play a key role with unprecedented depth. However, scientists need access to tools that can condense, analyse and display the resulting data. Here, we present viRome, a package for R that takes aligned sequence data and produces a range of essential plots and reports. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: viRome is released under the BSD license as a package for R available for both Windows and Linux http://virome.sf.net. Additional information and a tutorial is available on the ARK-Genomics website: http://www.ark-genomics.org/bioinformatics/virome. CONTACT: [email protected].

MOTIVATION: With the increasing use of post-genomics techniques to examine a wide variety of biological systems in laboratories throughout the world, scientists are often presented with lists of genes that they must make sense of. A consistently challenging problem is that of defining co-regulated genes within those gene lists. In recent years, microRNAs have emerged as a mechanism for regulating several cellular processes. In this article, we report on how gene lists and microRNA targets data may be integrated to test for significant associations between gene lists and microRNAs. RESULTS: We discuss CORNA, a package written in R and released under the GNU GPL, which allows users to test gene lists for significant microRNA-target associations using one of three separate statistical tests, to link microRNA targets to functional annotation and to visualize quantitative data associated with those data. AVAILABILITY: CORNA is available as an R package from http://corna.sf.net.