Common File Formats

FASTA

The FASTA file format is used for representing one or more nucleotide or amino acid sequences as a continuous string of characters. Sequences are annotated with a comment line, which starts with the > character, that precedes each sequence. The comment line is typically formatted in a uniform way, dictated by the sequence’s source database or generating software. For example:

>gi|62241013|ref|NP_001014431.1| RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase [Homo sapiens]
MSDVAIVKEGWLHKRGEYIKTWRPRYFLLKNDGTFIGYKERPQDVDQREAPLNNFSVAQCQLMKTERPRP
NTFIIRCLQWTTVIERTFHVETPEEREEWTTAIQTVADGLKKQEEEEMDFRSGSPSDNSGAEEMEVSLAK
PKHRVTMNEFEYLKLLGKGTFGKVILVKEKATGRYYAMKILKKEVIVAKDEVAHTLTENRVLQNSRHPFL
TALKYSFQTHDRLCFVMEYANGGELFFHLSRERVFSEDRARFYGAEIVSALDYLHSEKNVVYRDLKLENL
MLDKDGHIKITDFGLCKEGIKDGATMKTFCGTPEYLAPEVLEDNDYGRAVDWWGLGVVMYEMMCGRLPFY
NQDHEKLFELILMEEIRFPRTLGPEAKSLLSGLLKKDPKQRLGGGSEDAKEIMQHRFFAGIVWQHVYEKK
LSPPFKPQVTSETDTRYFDEEFTAQMITITPPDQDDSMECVDSERRPHFPQFSYSASGTA

The above example illustrates the amino acid sequence of an isoform of the human AKT1 genes, as fetched from the NCBI protein database. The header line specifies that this sequence may be identified with the GI ID 62241013 and the protein transcript ID NP_001014431.1. This protein is named RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase and is derived from the species, Homo sapiens.

Mutation Annotation Format (MAF)

The MAF file format is a tab-delimited text file format intended for describing somatic DNA mutations detected in sequencing results, and is distinct from the Multiple Alignment Format file type, which is intended for representing aligned nucleotide sequences. Column headers and ordering may sometimes vary between files of different sources, but the names and orders of columns, as defined in the specification, are the following:

Hugo_Symbol
Entrez_Gene_Id
Center
NCBI_Build
Chromosome
Start_Position
End_Position
Strand
Variant_Classification
Variant_Type
Reference_Allele
Tumor_Seq_Allele1
Tumor_Seq_Allele2
dbSNP_RS
dbSNP_Val_Status
Tumor_Sample_Barcode
Matched_Norm_Sample_Barcode
Match_Norm_Seq_Allele1
Match_Norm_Seq_Allele2
Tumor_Validation_Allele1
Tumor_Validation_Allele2
Match_Norm_Validation_Allele1
Match_Norm_Validation_Allele2
Verification_Status4
Validation_Status4
Mutation_Status
Sequencing_Phase
Sequence_Source
Validation_Method
Score
BAM_File
Sequencer
Tumor_Sample_UUID
Matched_Norm_Sample_UUID

Many MAF files, such as those available from the TCGA, also contain additional columns expanding on the variant annotation. These columns can include reference nucleotide transcript IDs for corresponding genes, representative codon or amino acid changes, QC metrics, population statistics, and more.

GCT

The GCT file format is a tab-delimited text file format used for describing processed gene expression or RNAi data, typically derived from microarray chip analysis. This data is arranged with a single annotated gene or probe per line, and a single chip sample per column (beyond the annotation columns). For example:

#1.2            
22215    2        
Name    Description    Tumor_One    Normal_One
1007_s_at    DDR1    -0.214548    -0.18069
1053_at    RFC2    0.868853    -1.330921
117_at    HSPA6    1.124814    0.933021
121_at    PAX8    -0.825381    0.102078
1255_g_at    GUCA1A    -0.734896    -0.184104
1294_at    UBE1L    -0.366741    -1.209838

In this example, the first line specifies the version of the GCT file specification, which in this case is 1.2. The second line specifies the number of rows of data (22215) and the number of samples (2). The header row specifies two annotation columns (Name for the chip probe set identifiers and Description for the gene symbols the probe set covers) and the names of the samples being assayed (Tumor_One and Normal_One). Each row of data beyond the header lists a single probe set identifier (in this case, Affymetrix gene chip probe sets), its corresponding gene symbol (if one exists), and the normalized values for each sample. Sample data values will vary based upon assay type and normalization methods, but are typically signed floating point numeric values.

Sequence Writing In fasta Format

This a python example function for sequence writing in fasta format.

Parameters:

filename(String) - A file name for writing sequence in fasta format.
seq(String) - A DNA or RNA sequence.
id(String) - The ID of the given sequence.

desc(String) - A short description of the given sequence.

import math

 def save_fsta(filename,seq,id,desc):
     fo = open(filename+'.fa',"a")
     header= str(id)+' <'+desc+'> \n'
     fo.write(header)
     count=math.floor(len(seq)/80+1)
     iteration = range(count)
     for i in iteration:
         fo.write(seq[80*(i):80*(i+1)]+'\n')        
     fo.write('\n \n')
     fo.close()

Another way is using textwrap

import textwrap

def save_fasta(filename,seq, id, desc):
    filename+='.fa'
    with open(filename, 'w') as f:
        f.write('>'+id+' <'+desc+'>\n');
        text = textwrap.wrap(seq,80);
        for x in text:
            f.write(x+'\n');