# Input and Options of MacSyFinder

## Input dataset

The input dataset must be a set of protein sequences in Fasta format (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FASTA_format). (The fasta file can be compressed in gzip format see note below)

The base section in the configuration file (see Configuration file) can be used to specify the path and the type of dataset to deal with, as well as the –sequence_db and –db_type parameters respectively, described in the Command-line options (see Input options).

> Four types of protein datasets are supported:

> > - unordered : a set of sequences corresponding to a complete genome (e.g. an unassembled complete genome)

> > - ordered_replicon : a set of sequences corresponding to an ordered complete replicon (e.g. an assembled complete genome)

> > - gembase : a set of multiple ordered replicons, which format follows the convention described in Gembase format.

For “ordered” (“ordered_replicon” or “gembase”) datasets only, MacSyFinder can take into account the shape of the genome: “linear”, or “circular” for detection. The default is set to “circular”.

> This can be set with the –replicon_topology parameter from Command-line options (see Input options), or in the configuration in the base section.

> With the “gembase” format, it is possible to specify a topology per replicon with a topology file (see Gembase format and Topology files).

Note

MSF can also read .gz compressed files; it will uncompress them on the fly. The compressed files must end with the .gz extension. For the hmmsearch step You need to have gunzip installed on your system for this to work.

## Command-line options

Optional arguments:

    -h, --help            Show the help message and exit

    -m [MODELS [MODELS ...]], --models [MODELS [MODELS ...]]
                          The models to search. The --models option can be set several times.'
                          For each --models options the first element must be the name of family models,
                          followed by the name of the models.
                          If the name 'all' is in the list all models from the family will be searched.'
                          '--models TXSS Flagellum T2SS'
                                    means MSF will search for models TXSS/Flagellum and TXSS/T2SS
                          '--models TXSS all'
                                    means for all models found in model package TXSS
                          '--models CRIPRcas/subtyping all'
                                   means MSF will search for all models described in the CRISPRCas/subtyping subfamily.
                          (required unless --previous-run is set)

Input dataset options:

    --sequence-db SEQUENCE_DB
                          Path to the sequence dataset in fasta format.
                          (required unless --previous-run is set)
    --db-type {ordered_replicon,gembase,unordered}
                          The type of dataset to deal with. "unordered" corresponds
                          to a non-assembled genome,
                          "ordered_replicon" to an assembled genome,
                          and "gembase" to a set of replicons where sequence identifiers
                          follow this convention: ">RepliconName_SequenceID".
                          (required unless --previous-run is set)
    --replicon-topology {linear,circular}
                          The topology of the replicons
                          (this option is meaningful only if the db_type is
                          'ordered_replicon' or 'gembase'.
    --topology-file TOPOLOGY_FILE
                          Topology file path. The topology file allows to specify a topology
                          (linear or circular) for each replicon (this option is meaningful only if
                          the db_type is 'ordered_replicon' or 'gembase'.
                          A topology file is a tabular file with two columns:
                          the 1st is the replicon name, and the 2nd the corresponding topology:
                          "RepliconA      linear"
    --idx                 Forces to build the indexes for the sequence dataset even
                          if they were previously computed and present at the dataset location.
                          (default: False)

Systems detection options:

    --inter-gene-max-space INTER_GENE_MAX_SPACE INTER_GENE_MAX_SPACE
                          Co-localization criterion: maximum number of components non-matched by a
                          profile allowed between two matched components
                          for them to be considered contiguous.
                          Option only meaningful for 'ordered' datasets.
                          The first value must match to a model, the second to a number of components.
                          This option can be repeated several times:
                              "--inter-gene-max-space TXSS/T2SS 12 --inter-gene-max-space TXSS/Flagellum 20
    --min-mandatory-genes-required MIN_MANDATORY_GENES_REQUIRED MIN_MANDATORY_GENES_REQUIRED
                          The minimal number of mandatory genes required for model assessment.
                          The first value must correspond to a model fully qualified name, the second value to an integer.
                          This option can be repeated several times:
                              "--min-mandatory-genes-required TXSS/T2SS 15 --min-mandatory-genes-required TXSS/Flagellum 10"
    --min-genes-required MIN_GENES_REQUIRED MIN_GENES_REQUIRED
                          The minimal number of genes required for model assessment "
                          (includes both 'mandatory' and 'accessory' components).
                          The first value must correspond to a model fully qualified name, the second value to an integer.
                          This option can be repeated several times:
                              "--min-genes-required TXSS/T2SS 15 --min-genes-required TXSS/Flagellum 10
    --max-nb-genes MAX_NB_GENES MAX_NB_GENES
                          The maximal number of genes to consider a system as full.
                          The first value must correspond to a model name, the second value to an integer.
                          This option can be repeated several times:
                              "--max-nb-genes TXSS/T2SS 5 --max-nb-genes TXSS/Flagellum 10"
    --multi-loci MULTI_LOCI
                          Specifies if the system can be detected as a 'scattered' system.
                          The models are specified as a comma separated list of fully qualified name
                              "--multi-loci model_familyA/model_1,model_familyB/model_2"

Options for Hmmer execution and hits filtering:

    --hmmer HMMER         Path to the hmmsearch program.
                          If it is not specify rely on the PATH
                          (default: hmmsearch)
    --e-value-search E_VALUE_SEARCH
                          Maximal e-value for hits to be reported during hmmsearch search.
                          By default MF set per profile threshold for hmmsearch run (--cut_ga option)
                          for profiles containing the GA bit score threshold.
                          If a profile does not contains the GA bit score the --e-value-search (-E in hmmsearch)
                          is applied to this profile.
                          To applied the --e-value-search to all profiles use the --no-cut-ga option.
                          (default: 0.1)
    --no-cut-ga           By default the MSF try to applied a threshold per profile by using the
                          hmmer -cut-ga option. This is possible only if the GA bit score is present in the profile otherwise
                          MF switch to use the --e-value-search (-E in hmmsearch).
                          If this option is set the --e-value-search option is used for all profiles regardless the presence of
                          the a GA bit score in the profiles.
                          (default: False)
    --cut-ga              By default the MSF try to applied a threshold per profile by using the
                          hmmer -cut-ga option. This is possible only if the GA bit score is present in the profile otherwise
                          MSF switch to use the --e-value-search (-E in hmmsearch).
                          But the modeler can override this default behavior to do not use cut_ga but --e-value-search instead (-E in hmmsearch).
                          The user can reestablish the general MSF behavior, be sure the profiles contain the GA bit score.
                          (default: True)

    --i-evalue-sel I_EVALUE_SEL
                          Maximal independent e-value for Hmmer hits to be selected for system detection.
                          (default:0.001)
    --coverage-profile COVERAGE_PROFILE
                          Minimal profile coverage required in the hit alignment to allow
                          the hit selection for system detection.
                          (default: 0.5)

Options for clusters and systems’ scoring:

    --mandatory-weight MANDATORY_WEIGHT
                          the weight (score) of a mandatory component when scoring clusters
                          (default:1.0)
    --accessory-weight ACCESSORY_WEIGHT
                          the weight (score) of an accessory component when scoring clusters
                          (default:0.5)
    --exchangeable-weight EXCHANGEABLE_WEIGHT
                          the weight modifier for the score of a component that is exchangeable
                          (default:0.8)
    --redundancy-penalty REDUNDANCY_PENALTY
                          the weight modifier for the score of a component that is already present in another cluster
                          (default:1.5)

    --loner-multi-system-weight LONER_MULTI_SYSTEM_WEIGHT
                          the weight modifier for the score of a component that is `loner` and `multi-system` at the same time
                          (default:0.7)

Path options:

    --models-dir MODELS_DIR
                          specify the path to the models if the models are not installed in the canonical place.
                          It gather definitions (xml files) and hmm profiles in a specific
                          structure. A directory with the name of the model with at least two directories
                          profiles" which contains all hmm profile for gene describe in definitions and
                          models" which contains either xml file of definitions or subdirectories
                          to organize the model in subsystems.
    -o OUT_DIR, --out-dir OUT_DIR
                          Path to the directory where to store results.
                          if out-dir is specified res-search-dir will be ignored.
    --force               force to run even the out dir already exists and is not empty.
                          Use this option with caution, MSF will erase everything in out dir before to run.
    --index-dir INDEX_DIR
                          Specifies the path to a directory to store/read the sequence index when the sequence-db dir
                          is not writable.
    --res-search-suffix RES_SEARCH_SUFFIX
                          The suffix to give to Hmmer raw output files. (default: .search_hmm.out)
    --res-extract-suffix RES_EXTRACT_SUFFIX
                          The suffix to give to filtered hits output files. (default: .res_hmm_extract)
    --profile-suffix PROFILE_SUFFIX
                          The suffix of profile files. For each 'Gene' element, the corresponding profile is
                          searched in the 'profile_dir', in a file which name is based on the
                          Gene name + the profile suffix.
                          For instance, if the Gene is named 'gspG' and the suffix is '.hmm3',
                          then the profile should be placed at the specified location
                          and be named 'gspG.hmm3'
                          (default: .hmm)

General options:

     -w WORKER, --worker WORKER
                           Number of workers to be used by MacSyFinder.
                           In the case the user wants to run MacSyFinder in a multi-thread mode.
                           (0 mean all threads available will be used).
                           (default: 1)
     -v, --verbosity       Increases the verbosity level. There are 4 levels:
                           Error messages (default), Warning (-v), Info (-vv) and Debug.(-vvv)
     --mute                mute the log on stdout.
                           (continue to log on macsyfinder.log)
                           (default: False)
     --version             show program's version number and exit
     -l, --list-models     display the all models installed in generic location and quit.
     --cfg-file CFG_FILE   Path to a MacSyFinder configuration file to be used.
     --previous-run PREVIOUS_RUN
                           Path to a previous MacSyFinder run directory.
                           It allows to skip the Hmmer search step on same dataset,
                           as it uses previous run results and thus parameters regarding Hmmer detection.
                           The configuration file from this previous run will be used.
                           Conflict with options
                               --config, --sequence-db, --profile-suffix, --res-extract-suffix, --e-value-res, --db-type, --hmmer
    --timeout TIMEOUT     In some case msf can take a long time to find the best solution (in 'gembase' and 'ordered_replicon mode').
                          The timeout is per replicon. If this step reach the timeout, the replicon is skipped (for gembase mode the analyse of other replicons continue).
                          NUMBER[SUFFIX]  NUMBER seconds. SUFFIX may be 's' for seconds (the default), 'm' for minutes, 'h' for hours or 'd' for days
                          for instance 1h2m3s means 1 hour 2 min 3 sec. NUMBER must be an integer.

Note

For some command line examples, have a look here, or at the MacSyFinder Quick Start section.

## Configuration file

Options to run MacSyFinder can be specified in a configuration file.

A macsyfinder utility is provided to generate macsyfinder config file: macsyconfig

macsyconfig is a conversation menu which guide you and generate a file macsyfinder.conf in ini format. Once generated put this file in specific locations (see below) to be take in account by MacSyFinder.

The Config object handles all configuration options for MacSyFinder. There kind of locations where to put configuration file:

> 1. System wide configuration (this configuration is used for all macsyfinder run)

>    - /etc/macsyfinder/macsyfinder.conf

>    - or in ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/etc/macsyfinder.conf if you installed macsyfinder in a virtualenv

>    - the file pointed by environment variable MACSY_HOME

> 2. User wide configuration (this configuration is used for all run for a user)

>    - ~/.macsyfinder/macsyfinder.conf

> 3. Project configuration

>    - macsyfinder.conf in the current directory

>    - with command line option –cfg-file

Note

The precedence rules from the least to the most important priority are:

System wide configuration < user wide configuration < project configuration < command line option

This means that command-line options will always bypass those from the configuration files. In the same flavor, options altering the definition of systems found in the command-line or the configuration file will always overwhelm values from systems’ XML definition files.

The configuration files must follow the Python “ini” file syntax. The Config object provides some default values and performs some validations of the values.

In MacSyFinder, six sections are defined and stored by default in the configuration file:

> > - base : all information related to the protein dataset under study

> >   - sequence_db : the path to the dataset in Fasta format (no default value)

> >   - db_type : the type of dataset to handle, four types are supported:

> >     > - unordered : a set of sequences corresponding to a complete replicon (e.g. an unassembled complete genome)

> >     > - ordered_replicon : a set of sequences corresponding to a complete replicon ordered (e.g. an assembled complete genome)

> >     > - gembase : a set of multiple ordered replicons.

> >     (no default value)

> >   - replicon_topology : the topology of the replicon under study. Two topologies are supported: ‘linear’ and ‘circular’ (default = ‘circular’). This option will be ignored if the dataset type is not ordered (i.e. “unordered_replicon” or “unordered”).

> > - models * list of models to search in replicon

> > - models_opt

> >   - inter_gene_max_space = list of models’ fully qualified names and integer separated by spaces (see example below). These values will supersede the values found in the model definition file.

> >   - min_mandatory_genes_required = list of models’ fully qualified name and integer separated by spaces. These values will supersede the values found in the model definition file.

> >   - min_genes_required = list of models’ fully qualified name and integer separated by spaces. These values will supersede the values found in the model definition file.

> >   - max_nb_genes = list of models’ fully qualified names and integer separated by spaces. These values will supersede the values found in the model definition file.

> > - hmmer

> >   - hmmer_exe (default= hmmsearch )

> >   - e_value_res = (default= 1 )

> >   - i_evalue_sel = (default= 0.5 )

> >   - coverage_profile = (default= 0.5 )

> > - score_opt

> >   - mandatory_weight (default= 1.0)

> >   - accessory_weight (default= 0.5)

> >   - exchangeable_weight (default= 0.8)

> >   - redundancy_penalty (default= 1.5)

> >   - out_of_cluster (default= 0.7)

> > - directories

> >   - res_search_dir = (default= ./datatest/res_search )

> >   - res_search_suffix = (default= .search_hmm.out )

> >   - system_models_dir = (default= ./models )

> >   - res_extract_suffix = (default= .res_hmm_extract )

> >   - index_dir = (default= beside the sequence_db)

> > - general

> >   - log_level: (default= debug ) This corresponds to an integer code:

> >       Level | Numeric value
> >       --- | ---
> >       CRITICAL | 50
> >       ERROR | 40
> >       WARNING | 30
> >       INFO | 20
> >       DEBUG | 10
> >       NOTSET | 0

> >   - log_file = (default = macsyfinder.log in directory of the run)

Example of a configuration file

     [base]
     prefix = /path/to/macsyfinder/home/
     file = %(prefix)s/data/base/prru_psae.001.c01.fasta
     db_type = gembase
     replicon_topology = circular

     [models]
     models_1 = TFF-SF_final all

     [models_opt]
     inter_gene_max_space = TXSS/T2SS 22 TXSS/Flagellum 44
     min_mandatory_genes_required = TXSS/T2SS 6 TXSS/Flagellum 4
     min_genes_required = TXSS/T2SS 8 TXSS/Flagellum 4
     max_nb_genes = TXSS/T2SS 12 TXSS/Flagellum 8

     [hmmer]
     hmmer = hmmsearch
     e_value_res = 1
     i_evalue_sel = 0.5
     coverage_profile = 0.5

     [score_opt]
     mandatory_weight = 1.0
     accessory_weight = 0.5
     exchangeable_weight = 0.8
     redundancy_penalty = 1.5
     loner_multi_system_weight = 0.7

     [directories]
     prefix = /path/to/macsyfinder/home/
     data_dir = %(prefix)s/data/
     res_search_dir = %(prefix)s/dataset/res_search/
     res_search_suffix = .raw_hmm
     system_models_dir = %(data_dir)/data/models, ~/.macsyfinder/data
     profile_suffix = .fasta-aln.hmm
     res_extract_suffix = .res_hmm
     index_dir = path/where/I/store/my_indexes

    [general]
    log_level = debug
    worker = 4

Note

After a run, the corresponding configuration file (“macsyfinder.conf”) is generated as a (re-usable) output file that stores every options used in the run. It is stored in the results’ directory (see the output section).

Warning

The configuration variable models_dir cannot be set in general configuration file. models_dir` can be set only in configuration under user control. ``$(HOME)/.macsyfinder/macsyfinder.conf < macsyfinder.conf < "command-line" options`` models_dir is a single path to a directory whre masyfinder can find models.

But the system_models_dir can be set in general configuration file

- /etc/macsyfinder/macsyfinder.conf

- or ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/etc/macsyfinder/macsyfinder.conf

- or anywhere point by $MACSY_CONF environment variable

system_models_dir manage a list of locations where macsyfinder can find models. The order of locations is important, it reflects the precedence rule (The models found in last location superseed models found in previous location). By default look for following directories: /share/macsyfinder/models, or /usr/sharemacsyfinder/models and $HOME/.macsyfinder/models and system_models_dir uses these directories if they exists.

## In-house input files

- Gembase format
- Topology files

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