This is a test version of Biostars. For the public version, visit https://www.biostars.org.
1000 Genomes Human Reference Assembly File With Non Actgn Chars In Chr 3, Why?

I am using the 1000 genomes human assembly reference file

wget ftp://ftp-trace.ncbi.nih.gov/1000genomes/ftp/technical/reference/human_g1k_v37.fasta.gz

and It was working OK with bwa but not with other programs that expected only ACTGN letters.

Seems that in chr3 there is a M in one line and two R in another line.

 $  perl -lnE 'print if /[^ACTGN]/' human_g1k_v37.fasta
>1 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:1:1:249250621:1
>2 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:2:1:243199373:1
>3 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:3:1:198022430:1
CGCTACATAGCTGMCTTATTATTCGTGGTCCCCTATGACCCCCTGATCATTTTCCCTGAG
CCRRGCTTGGTTCTAACAATGAATTTAATAAGAATTGTATTTAATCAATGTTTAAATATA
>4 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:4:1:191154276:1
>5 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:5:1:180915260:1
>6 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:6:1:171115067:1
>7 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:7:1:159138663:1
>8 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:8:1:146364022:1
>9 dna:chromosome chromosome:GRCh37:9:1:141213431:1
[...]

Assuming that they are ambiguity IUPAC code, why they are there if it is the reference (isn't GRCh37 haploid)? and why only there? why not to put an N? Is that on purpose?

genome human

1 answer

The reference genome for : hg19_dna range=chr3:60830521-60830580 5'pad=0 3'pad=0 is:

CGCTACATAGCTG*N*CTTATTATTCGTGGTCCCCTATGACCCCCTGATCATTTTCCCTGAG

your sequence:

CGCTACATAGCTG*M*CTTATTATTCGTGGTCCCCTATGACCCCCTGATCATTTTCCCTGAG

the 'M' (A or C: your sample was heterozygous) was a 'N' on the reference sequence.

2nd: the reference sequence

CCNNGCTTGGTTCTAACAATGAATTTAATAAGAATTGTATTTAA

your sequence:

CCRRGCTTGGTTCTAACAATGAATTTAATAAGAATTGTATTTAATCAATGTTTAAATATA

again the reference contains two 'N' on the reference sequence.

thanks Pierre, but the problem is that this sequence is suppose to be the HUMAN GENOME REFERENCE prepared and used for the 1kg. So why it doesn't have the original Ns?

because there was a strong ambiguity when the reference was sequenced. Some ambiguities remain.

It is clear that the ambiguities remain but always as an N (I assume) in the reference that is haploid.

I have accepted your answer for rewarding your time in answering. I have now a confirmation from 1000genomes researchers that this seems an error propagated from former genome reference sequences. They will fix the sequence in the ftp but is tricky because the bam files headers contain the md5 checksum of the reference sequences.

Log in to answer this question.