Build a Bioinformatics Analysis Platform and Apply it to Routine Analysis of Microbial Genomics and Comparative Genomics

Abstract

Abstract Genomics and comparative genomics have been increasingly used as routine methods for general microbiological researches. However, it is usually necessary to call several tools or even write some scripts to complete some simple analysis, which is complicated for most biological researchers. To simplify the operation process, especially for the convenience of microbiologists in the analysis, here we have developed PGCGAP, a comprehensive, malleable and easily-installed prokaryotic genomics and comparative genomics analysis pipeline, which implements genome assembly, gene prediction and annotation, average nucleotide identity (ANI) calculation, phylogenetic analysis, COG annotation, pan-genome analysis, inference of orthologous gene groups, variants calling and annotation and screening for antimicrobial and virulence genes. Although we have tried our best to simplify the installation and usage of PGCGAP, it may be difficult for non-bioinformatician users to master it. So, a protocol was created to help microbiologists without any experience in bioinformatics to establish their own bioinformatics platform and perform routine analysis. This protocol shows how to choose equipment, to install a Linux subsystem on a laptop with windows 10 system, to install PGCGAP and perform all analysis with an example dataset. The protocol requires a basic understanding of Linux, so an additional web page was written to help uninitiated users learn Linux and whole-genome sequencing (http://bcam.hzau.edu.cn/linuxwgs.php).