MAFin: Motif Detection in Multiple Alignment Files

TL;DR

MAFin is a new Python tool that efficiently detects and analyzes conserved motifs in multiple alignment files, facilitating comparative genomics and proteomics research.

Contribution

It introduces the first motif detection method specifically designed for MAF files, supporting multiple approaches and conservation analysis.

Findings

Enables multithreaded motif search in MAF files

Supports k-mers, regex, and PWMs for motif detection

Provides conservation statistics and exports results in JSON and CSV

Abstract

Motivation: Genome and Proteome Alignments, represented by the Multiple Alignment File (MAF) format, have become a standard approach in the field of comparative genomics and proteomics. However, current approaches lack a direct method for motif detection within MAF files. To address this gap, we present MAFin, a novel tool that enables efficient motif detection and conservation analysis in MAF files, streamlining genomic and proteomic research. Results: We developed MAFin, the first motif detection tool for Multiple Alignment Format files. MAFin enables the multithreaded search of conserved motifs using three approaches: 1) by using user-specified k-mers to search the sequences. 2) with regular expressions, in which case one or more patterns are searched, and 3) with predefined Position Weight Matrices. Once the motif has been found, MAFin detects the motif instances and calculates the conservation across the aligned sequences. MAFin also calculates a conservation percentage, which provides information about the conservation levels of each motif across the aligned sequences, based on the number of matches relative to the length of the motif. A set of statistics enable the interpretation of each motif's conservation level, and the detected motifs are exported in JSON and CSV files for downstream analyses. Availability: MAFin is released as a Python package under the GPL license as a multi-platform application and is available at: https://github.com/Georgakopoulos-Soares-lab/MAFin. Contact: izg5139@psu.edu