A python parser to parse metadata and records information from VCF file.
There are several tools available to manipulate and parse VCF file. But, a simple and comprehensive tool that can extract data in a most efficient (minimal code) way is still amiss. VCF simplify is aimed for users from non-programming background, empirical biologist and team who lack bioinformatics support, however can be used by users at any level to extract VCF data in a most efficient way. This application takes the approach of using minimal scripts to generate maximal output.
This tool performs following three main tasks:
- ViewVCF : Display and extract metadata information from VCF files.
- SimplifyVCF : Convert VCF files to table or haplotype format.
- BuildVCF : Convert the table or haplotype format file back to VCF.
Note: haplotype format data is exclusively used in phase-Stitcher and phase-Extender for phasing ReadBackPhased haplotypes.
This application is not designed to merge, compare or compute statistics from VCF files. Tools like vcflib and bcftools are the ones better suited for those purpose.
VCF Simplify is written in python3 and only uses standard built-in modules. So, all you need is python3 installed on your system (windows, mac, ubuntu) to run this code locally. If you do not have python installed, you can install it from here. For linux; you can get latest python3 by:
sudo apt-get install python3- Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/everestial/VCF-Simplify
cd VCF-Simplify
# call the "VCF-Simplify" application
python3 VcfSimplify.py -h-
Cythonize (Optional but helpful for faster performance)
-
Create and activate a virtual environment
# create virtual environment named "myenv" python3 -m venv myenv # rename environment as required # activate the environment source myenv/bin/activate # for linux myenv\Scripts\activate # for windows
-
Install
Cythonlibrary(myenv)$ pip install Cython
-
Cythonize (so that app runs faster)
# cythoize using the 'setup.py' file in "VCF Simplify" (myenv)$ python3 setup.py build_ext --inplaceThis makes .so files in your build directory and it will be called when importing modules rather than actual modules.
-
-
Call
VCFSimplify
$ python3 VcfSimplify.py -h
## VCF Simplify ## : Python application for parsing VCF files.
Author: Bishwa K. Giri
Contact: bkgiri@uncg.edu, kirannbishwa01@gmail.com
usage: VCF-Simplify [-h] {ViewVCF,SimplifyVCF,BuildVCF} ...
positional arguments:
{ViewVCF,SimplifyVCF,BuildVCF}
Choose one of the following method.
ViewVCF View and extract metadata from the VCF.
SimplifyVCF Simplify VCF -> to {haplotype, table} data.
BuildVCF Build VCF <- from {haplotype, table} data.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exitThree available functions are shown:
- ViewVCF, SimplifyVCF, BuildVCF.
- Each function can be further expanded as shown in the "Usage" below.
- Help on ViewVCF:
$ python3 VcfSimplify.py ViewVCF -h
## VCF Simplify ## : Python application for parsing VCF files.
Author: Bishwa K. Giri
Contact: bkgiri@uncg.edu, kirannbishwa01@gmail.com
usage: VCF-Simplify ViewVCF [-h] -inVCF INVCF [-outFile OUTFILE]
[-outType {table,json,dict} [{table,json,dict} ...]]
[-metadata METADATA [METADATA ...]]
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-inVCF INVCF Sorted vcf file.
-outFile OUTFILE Name of the output file without file extension.
-outType {table,json,dict} [{table,json,dict} ...]
Space separated list of output data types.
Multiple types can be requested.
-metadata METADATA [METADATA ...]
Space separated list of metadata of interest.
Allowed values are:
VCFspec, reference, contig, samples, INFO, FORMAT, FILTER, GATKCommandLine, GVCFBlock.
Multiple choices can be requested.examples:
-
Write metadata from VCF file as table, json, dict
python3 VcfSimplify.py ViewVCF -inVCF exampleInput/input_test.vcf -outFile exampleOutput/testOutput -outType table json dict
This will write metadata information from vcf headers into three format (table, json and dict) as testOutput.table and so on.
Note: Since no -metadata flag is invoked, at default state all the available metadata are extracted.
-
Use
-metadataflag to extract only specific metadata of interest (on console)python3 VcfSimplify.py ViewVCF -inVCF exampleInput/input_test.vcf -metadata VCFspec samples
Since no output filename is given, this will print metadata info in the console.
- Help on SimplifyVCF
$ python3 VcfSimplify.py SimplifyVCF -h
## VCF Simplify ## : Python application for parsing VCF files.
Author: Bishwa K. Giri
Contact: bkgiri@uncg.edu, kirannbishwa01@gmail.com
usage: VCF-Simplify SimplifyVCF [-h] -toType {haplotype,table} -inVCF INVCF
-outFile OUTFILE
[-outHeaderName OUTHEADERNAME]
[-GTbase GTBASE [GTBASE ...]] [-PG PG]
[-PI PI] [-includeUnphased {yes,no,0,1}]
[-samples SAMPLES [SAMPLES ...]]
[-preHeader PREHEADER [PREHEADER ...]]
[-infos INFOS [INFOS ...]]
[-formats FORMATS [FORMATS ...]]
[-mode {wide,long,0,1}]
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-toType {haplotype,table}
Type of the output file.
-inVCF INVCF Sorted vcf file.
-outFile OUTFILE Name of the output file.
-outHeaderName OUTHEADERNAME
Write the VCF raw METADATA HEADER to a separate output file.
Default: no output.
-GTbase GTBASE [GTBASE ...]
Write the genotype (GT, PG etc.) field as IUPAC base code.
Default = GT:numeric (i.e write 'GT' bases as numeric)
Choices : [GT:numeric, GT:iupac, PG:iupac, .....].
Multiple option can be requested for each genotype fields.
Additional arguments for "VCF To -> Haplotype":
-PG PG FORMAT tag representing the phased genotype.
Default: PG
Note: 'GT' can be used if it contains the phased genotype.
-PI PI FORMAT tag representing the unique phased haplotype block index.
Note: 'CHROM' can also be used as 'PI' if the VCF is phased chromosome or contig wide.
-includeUnphased {yes,no,0,1}
include unphased variants (genotypes) in the haplotype output.
Default: no (0) (i.e do not write unphased variants)
Additional arguments for "VCF To -> Table":
-samples SAMPLES [SAMPLES ...]
SAMPLE of interest:
Space separated name of the samples or matching sample names.
Matching prefix, suffix or string in the names can be provided too.
Choices format:
[0, sample A, sample B, prefix:XXXsample, suffix:sampleXXX, match:XXX, all]
Multiple choices can be requested.
Note: 0 = ignore all the samples; Default = all
-preHeader PREHEADER [PREHEADER ...]
Space separated header fields before the 'INFO' field.
Choices:
[0, CHROM, POS, ID, REF, ALT, QUAL, FILTER, all].
Multiple choices can be requested.
Note: 0 = ignore all the pre-header-keys; Default = all.
-infos INFOS [INFOS ...]
Space separate INFO tags of interest.
Choices :
[0, AC, AF, AN, ..., all].
Multiple choices can be requested.
Note: 0 = ignore all the INFO tags; Default = all
-formats FORMATS [FORMATS ...]
Space separate FORMAT tags of interest.
Choices : [0, GT, PG, PI, ..., all].
Multiple choices can be requested.
Note: 0 = ignore all the pre-header-keys; Default = all.
-mode {wide,long,0,1}
Structure of the output table. Default = wide (0)examples: VCF to Table
- Convert specific metadata into simplified tsv format
python3 VcfSimplify.py SimplifyVCF -toType table -inVCF exampleInput/input_test.vcf -outFile exampleOutput/simple_table.txt -infos AF AN BaseQRankSum ClippingRankSum -formats GT PI PG GQ PL -preHeader CHROM POS REF ALT FILTER -mode wide -samples MA605 match:ms -GTbase GT:iupac PG:iupac -outHeaderName exampleOutput/vcf_header02.txt
This converts input_test.vcf into simple_table.txt file using the arguments provided above.
- Convert all the VCF into simplified tsv format
python3 VcfSimplify.py SimplifyVCF -toType table -inVCF exampleInput/input_test.vcf -outFile exampleOutput/simple_table.txt
If no specific argument flag is raised, then all the tags from INFO and FORMAT (for all the samples) are simplified as tsv.
example: VCF to Haplotype
python3 VcfSimplify.py SimplifyVCF -toType haplotype -inVCF exampleInput/input_test.vcf -outFile exampleOutput/simple_haplotype.txt -outHeaderName exampleOutput/vcf_header02.txt -PI PI -PG GT -GTbase GT:numeric -includeUnphased yes
This converts input_test.vcf into simple_haplotype.txt.
The raised arugments do the following:
PIfrom the FORMAT is used as unique index for the phased block for each sample.- phased genotypes are extracted from
GT. - phased genotypes are represented as numerical bases.
- uphased genotypes are also written to haplotype file.
- header info is written as vcf_header02.txt.
- Help on BuildVCF
$ python3 VcfSimplify.py BuildVCF -h
## VCF Simplify ## : Python application for parsing VCF files.
Author: Bishwa K. Giri
Contact: bkgiri@uncg.edu, kirannbishwa01@gmail.com
usage: VCF-Simplify BuildVCF [-h] -fromType {haplotype,table} -inFile INFILE
-outVCF OUTVCF -vcfHeader VCFHEADER
[-samples SAMPLES [SAMPLES ...]]
[-formats FORMATS [FORMATS ...]]
[-infos INFOS [INFOS ...]]
[-GTbase GTBASE [GTBASE ...]] [-haplotypeFormat]
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-fromType {haplotype,table}
Type of the input file the VCF is being prepared from.
-inFile INFILE Sorted table or haplotype file.
Note:
Haplotype file should be in the format created by 'phase-Stitcher' or 'phase-Extender'.
Table file should be in the format created by 'VCF-Simplify'
Only wide?? table is supported for now.
-outVCF OUTVCF Name of the output VCF file.
-vcfHeader VCFHEADER A custom VCF header to add to the VCF file.
The VCF header should not contain the line with #CHROM ....
#CHROM ... line is auto populated while creating the VCF file.
Additional arguments for "Table To VCF":
-samples SAMPLES [SAMPLES ...]
Name of the samples -> space separated name of the samples that needs to be converted.
Default = allto VCF format
-formats FORMATS [FORMATS ...]
Name of the FORMAT tags to write -> space separated FORMAT tags name.
Default = all
-infos INFOS [INFOS ...]
Name of the INFO tags to write -> space separated INFO tags name.
Default = all
-GTbase GTBASE [GTBASE ...]
Suggest if the genotype fields (GT, PG etc.) are in IUPAC base code.
Default = GT:numeric (i.e assumes 'GT' bases are numeric)
Choices : [GT:numeric, GT:iupac, PG:iupac, .....].
Multiple option can be suggested for each genotype fields.
Additional arguments for "Haplotype To VCF":
-haplotypeFormat report which format (numeric vs. iupac) the haplotype file is in.
Default = iupac
example: Table to VCF
python3 VcfSimplify.py BuildVCF -fromType table -inFile exampleOutput/simple_table.txt -outVCF exampleOutput/tableToVcf.vcf -vcfHeader exampleOutput/vcf_header02.txt
This converts the input table simple_table.txt to vcf file tableToVcf.vcf and adds vcf_header02.txt as metadata header.
example: haplotype to VCF
python3 VcfSimplify.py BuildVCF -fromType haplotype -inFile exampleOutput/simple_haplotype.txt -outVCF exampleOutput/hapToVCF.vcf -vcfHeader exampleOutput/vcf_header.txt -haplotypeFormat iupac
This converts the haplotype file simple_haplotype.txt created using simplify vcf into its original vcf file hapToVCF.vcf along with header file.
- Ability to add
genotype basesfor fields other than "GT" . - Ability to handle symbolic alleles.
- Ability to :
- prepare custom diploid genome.
- prepare custom GTF, GFF files.
- Extract gene sequence using ref genome and VCF files for phylogenetic analyses.
Giri, B.K, (2018). VCF-simplify: Tool to build and simplify VCF (variant call format) files.