NCBI SRA accepts genetic data and the associated quality scores produced by next generation sequencing technologies. Files
can be compressed using gzip or bzip2, and may be submitted in a tar archive. All file names must be unique and not
contain any sensitive information. File names as submitted will appear publicly in the Goolge and AWS clouds. Finally, all
files for a submission must be uploaded into a single folder. If you have any question or concern about your data or
submission, you should contact SRA support.
Submission to SRA requires a submission xml file and fastq files. The required XML file for submission will be provided by NMDC runtime. The Python scripts here will help validating the xml file, staging the FASTQ files, uploading files to the NCBI server and monitoring the submission status. Scripts are adapted from METAGENOTE.
The sra_xml_validation.py will validate the submission.xml through by NCBI biosample validate service.
The sra_stage_files.py will download fastq files into a stage folder.
The sra_ascp.py will sends all files to NCBI SRA server using ascp command.
The sra_ascp_result_monitor.py will check report.xml files for the NCBI SRA submission using ascp command.
Note: Do not submit human data into the public SRA database without consent. Make sure that you have consent from the donating individual to make this data available in an unprotected database. Do not transmit human data intended for dbGAP submissions to the public SRA database. For more information, please visit NCBI SRA submission guideline.
- Python 3.6 or newer
xml.dom.minidom: a minimal DOM implementation for Pythonxml.etree.ElementTree: the ElementTree API, a simple and lightweight XML processor for Pythonascp: Aspera connect
The folder test contains an example submission.xml. To validate the XML required for SRA submission, run the command:
sra_xml_validation.py -i test/submission.xml
If the command completes successfully, you should see the message similar to the one below. The script should generate a XML
files, validate.xml which shows the validation results.
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 7427 0 653 100 6774 5062 52511 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 57573
{"Passed": "Yes"}
The following is the description of the arguments and its default value.
-i/--input-file: submission.xml-o/--output-file: validation result xml (default: validate.xml)
The folder test_staging contains an example url text file test_staging_files_url.txt.
./sra_stage_files.py -i test_staging/test_staging_files_url.txt -o test
The command will have log info print on the screen as following. The fastq files should be downloaed to the staging folder test.
[2024-07-02 15:15] INFO: Downloading file test.1.fastq.gz to test/
[2024-07-02 15:15] INFO: Downloading file test.2.fastq.gz to test/
[2024-07-02 15:15] INFO: Downloading file test2.1.fastq.gz to test/
[2024-07-02 15:15] INFO: Downloading file test2.2.fastq.gz to test/
The following is the description of the arguments and its default value.
-i/--input-file: a list of https url to files-o/--output-dir: data staging directory
When you are ready to submit to SRA, type:
sra_ascp.py --ncbi-sra-dir 'submit/Test/' --input-dir 'test/' --ncbi-username 'username' --ncbi-private-key 'keyfile'
Note: Do not run this command unless you have collected all required files for your project. The input folder should
contain only the files required (example: submission.xml, test.1.fastq.gz, test.1.fastq.gz test2.1.fastq.gz and test2.2.fastq.gz, please remove *.txt file and validate.xml) by SRA for a submission.
This script will run ascp to transfer all the files to SRA. You should make sure that ascp has been successfully
installed on the system. Otherwise, the command will fail. NCBI has chosen to use a product from
Aspera, Inc (Emeryville, CA) because of improved data transfer characteristics. The software
includes a command line tool (ascp) that allows scripted data transfer. The software client is free for users exchanging
data with NCBI. For more information about ascp, please visit the
Aspear Transfer Guide.
The following is the description of the arguments.
-f/--input-dir: Directory that contains all the files for a submission.-d/--ncbi-sra-dir: Path to the destination BioProject SRA submission folder.-i/--ncbi-private-key: Path to your private key file. In order to use the Aspera upload service you will need to use a private SSH key, individual users should contact SRA to request an Aspera private key.-u/--ncbi-username: Username of your SRA account.
After submission, you can check the status, run the command:
sra_ascp_result_monitor.py --input-dir test -d submit/Test --ncbi-username 'username' --ncbi-private-key 'keyfile'
If the submission is successful, you should see the message similar to the one below.
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: BioSample nmdc:bsm-12-gnfpt4833 SAMN02350845
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: BioSample nmdc:bsm-12-gnfpt4833 SAMN02350845
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: BioSample nmdc:bsm-12-kwnkx8977 SAMN02350844
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: BioSample nmdc:bsm-12-kwnkx8977 SAMN02350844
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: SRA test1.fastq.gzbsm-12-gnfpt4833 SRR00255873
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: SRA test2.fastq.gz-nmdc:bsm-12-kwnkx8977 SRR00255872
[2024-07-02 15:36] INFO: Successfully Submit test_nmdc to NCBI
If the submission has errors, you should see error messages similar to the one below.
[2024-07-02 15:36] ERROR: An error occurred during submission processing. Please contact SRA helpdesk for more information. Please do not create another (duplicate) submission with the same data.
[2024-07-02 15:36] ERROR: Submission processing may be delayed due to necessary curator review. Please check spelling of organism, current information could not be resolved automatically and will require a taxonomy consult. For more information about providing a valid organism, including new species, metagenomes (microbiomes) and metagenome-assembled genomes, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/docs/organism/.
[2024-07-02 15:36] ERROR: These samples have the same Sample Names and different attributes. If they are different samples, please provide a unique Sample Name for each. If one is intended to be an update of the other, please stop this submission and contact biosamplehelp@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
[2024-07-02 15:36] ERROR: We will automatically transform the attribute value(s) you provided as follows.
If no report.xml is retrieved, this does not necessarily mean your submission failed.
The SRA system may not have generated it yet.
The following is the description of the arguments.
-f/--input-dir: Directory that contains all the files for a submission.-d/--ncbi-sra-dir: Path to the destination BioProject SRA submission folder.-i/--ncbi-private-key: Path to your private key file. In order to use the Aspera upload service you will need to use a private SSH key, individual users should contact SRA to request an Aspera private key.-u/--ncbi-username: Username of your SRA account.-m/--max-time: maximum time in sec for checking report.xml from remote site. (default: 1800)
You should receive email notification about the submission from NCBI.
If your submission contain errors, the email will inform you about the error which should be similar to
sra_ascp_result_monitor.py command report above. You should wait for notification from the SRA that the submission has been
received and processed. During error correction, only make changes to SRA detected errors. All other changes will be ignored
by the SRA during resubmission. If additional changes are required, they can be made using the NCBI website after successful
submission.
If you are unsuccessful with the submission, you should contact SRA staff with the temporary submission ID for further assistance.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please create an issue on github.