a mini guide to find and compare bioinformatics tools:
Bioinformatic libraries in various languages, along with their applications and key advantages
Library | Language | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|---|
Biopython | Python | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, phylogenetics, and more | Wide range of bioinformatics tools, well-documented, easy to use |
BioPerl | Perl | Sequence analysis, gene expression analysis, and more | Large collection of bioinformatics tools, well-established in the bioinformatics community |
BioRuby | Ruby | Sequence analysis, gene expression analysis, and more | Easier to learn than other languages, good for rapid prototyping and data manipulation |
Bioconductor | R | Genomic data analysis, microarray analysis, and more | Large collection of bioinformatics packages, easy to use, well-documented |
BASH | Shell | Automating tasks, running programs, and more | Widely available on all Unix-like systems, good for automating tasks |
Biocython | Python | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, phylogenetics, and more | Built on top of Biopython, adds support for newer technologies such as high-throughput sequencing |
BioJava | Java | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, and more | Widely used in industry, good performance, well-documented |
BioPHP | PHP | Sequence analysis, gene expression analysis, and more | Easy to use, good for web-based bioinformatics applications |
BioClojure | Clojure | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, and more | Good for rapid prototyping, easy to learn for programmers familiar with Java |
BioScala | Scala | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, and more | Good performance, integrates well with Java and other JVM languages |
Python libraries for bioinformatics:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages | Requirements |
---|---|---|---|
Biopython | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, phylogenetics, and more | Wide range of bioinformatics tools, well-documented, easy to use | Python 2.7 or Python 3.5+ |
Biocython | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, phylogenetics, and more | Built on top of Biopython, adds support for newer technologies such as high-throughput sequencing | Python 2.7 or Python 3.5+ |
PyBio | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, and more | Designed to be easy to use and lightweight | Python 2.7 or Python 3.3+ |
BioPython3 | Sequence analysis, structure analysis, and more | A fork of Biopython that adds Python 3 support | Python 3.5+ |
PyGenomics | Genomic data analysis, gene expression analysis, and more | Easy to use, well-documented | Python 2.7 or Python 3.4+ |
PyVCF | Variation data analysis | Allows for the parsing, manipulation, and generation of VCF files | Python 2.7 or Python 3.4+ |
PySAM | Sequence alignment and mapping | Provides a Python interface to the SAM/BAM file format | Python 2.7 or Python 3.4+ |
PyFaidx | Fasta sequence manipulation | Allows for the efficient parsing and manipulation of Fasta files | Python 2.7 or Python 3.4+ |
Pygr | Comparative genomics | Provides tools for the efficient comparison of large genomic datasets | Python 2.7 or Python 3.4+ |
PyBioMed | Molecular structure analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of molecular structures, including protein-ligand binding affinity prediction | Python 2.7 or Python 3.5+ |
R packages for bioinformatics:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
Bioconductor | Genomic data analysis, microarray analysis, and more | Large collection of bioinformatics packages, easy to use, well-documented |
seqinr | Sequence analysis | Wide range of sequence analysis tools, good for data manipulation and visualization |
Biostrings | Sequence analysis | Fast string matching algorithms, efficient memory usage |
GenomicRanges | Genomic data manipulation and visualization | Efficient manipulation and visualization of large genomic datasets |
edgeR | Differential gene expression analysis | Statistical methods for the analysis of digital gene expression data |
limma | Microarray data analysis | Tools for the analysis of gene expression microarray data |
variantTools | Genetic variation analysis | Tools for the analysis of genetic variation data |
VariantAnnotation | Genetic variation annotation | Annotation of genetic variants, integration with other Bioconductor packages |
clusterProfiler | Gene set enrichment analysis | Tools for the analysis of gene set enrichment, integration with other Bioconductor packages |
Bioinformatic libraries in Python for microbiome data analysis
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
QIIME | Microbiome data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of microbiome data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
mothur | Microbiome data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of microbiome data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
Phyloseq | Microbiome data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of microbiome data |
MicrobiomeUtils | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of microbiome data, including OTU picking and taxonomic assignment |
MicrobeCensus | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of microbiome data, including abundance estimation and community composition analysis |
MetaPhlAn | Microbiome data analysis | Fast and accurate taxonomic assignment of microbial reads |
Sourmash | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the comparison and analysis of microbial signatures (sourmash signatures) |
MetaMap | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the mapping of high-throughput sequencing reads to reference genomes |
R packages for microbiome data analysis
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
phyloseq | Microbiome data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of microbiome data |
metagenomeSeq | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the statistical analysis of microbiome data, includes support for differential abundance analysis |
Vegan | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of community composition data, includes support for ordination and diversity analysis |
phyloT | Microbiome data visualization | Provides tools for the visualization of microbiome data, including phylogenetic trees and networks |
MiCRUSt | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the prediction of gene content from microbiome data |
MaAsLin | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of microbiome data, including multivariate regression analysis |
Tn-SeqR | Microbiome data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of transposon sequencing data, including taxonomic assignment and abundance estimation |
Python libraries for virology:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
ViroBLAST | Virus sequence analysis | Fast and accurate BLAST searches of virus sequences |
PyVirus | Virus sequence analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of virus sequences, including alignment and phylogenetic tree construction |
VirusGenie | Virus genome analysis | Provides tools for the annotation and analysis of virus genomes |
PyVirusSF | Virus sequence analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of virus sequences, including alignment and phylogenetic tree construction |
virus_gene_prediction | Virus gene prediction | Provides tools for the prediction of virus genes in genomic sequences |
VirusMatch | Virus sequence analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of virus sequences, including alignment and phylogenetic tree construction |
GISAID_Search | Virus sequence search | Provides tools for searching the GISAID database of virus sequences |
R packages for virology:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
seqinr | Virus sequence analysis | Wide range of sequence analysis tools, good for data manipulation and visualization |
Biostrings | Virus sequence analysis | Fast string matching algorithms, efficient memory usage |
GenomicRanges | Virus genome analysis | Efficient manipulation and visualization of large genomic datasets |
phyloseq | Virus data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of virus data |
metagenomeSeq | Virus data analysis | Provides tools for the statistical analysis of virus data, includes support for differential abundance analysis |
Vegan | Virus data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of community composition data, includes support for ordination and diversity analysis |
phyloT | Virus data visualization | Provides tools for the visualization of virus data, including phylogenetic trees and networks |
Python libraries for microbiology:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
QIIME | Microbiology data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of microbiology data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
mothur | Microbiology data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of microbiology data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
Phyloseq | Microbiology data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of microbiology data |
MicrobiomeUtils | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of microbiology data, including OTU picking and taxonomic assignment |
MicrobeCensus | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of microbiology data, including abundance estimation and community composition analysis |
MetaPhlAn | Microbiology data analysis | Fast and accurate taxonomic assignment of microbial reads |
Sourmash | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the comparison and analysis of microbial signatures (sourmash signatures) |
MetaMap | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the mapping of high-throughput sequencing reads to reference genomes |
R packages for microbiology:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
seqinr | Microbiology data analysis | Wide range of sequence analysis tools, good for data manipulation and visualization |
Biostrings | Microbiology data analysis | Fast string matching algorithms, efficient memory usage |
GenomicRanges | Microbiology data manipulation and visualization | Efficient manipulation and visualization of large genomic datasets |
phyloseq | Microbiology data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of microbiology data |
metagenomeSeq | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the statistical analysis of microbiology data, includes support for differential abundance analysis |
Vegan | Microbiology data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of community composition data, includes support for ordination and diversity analysis |
phyloT | Microbiology data visualization | Provides tools for the visualization of microbiology data, including phylogenetic trees and networks |
Python libraries to analyze metagenomics data:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
QIIME | Metagenomics data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of metagenomics data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
mothur | Metagenomics data analysis | Wide range of tools for the analysis of metagenomics data, includes support for OTU picking, taxonomic assignment, and more |
Phyloseq | Metagenomics data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of metagenomics data |
MetaGenomics | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of metagenomics data, including OTU picking and taxonomic assignment |
MetaMegan | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of metagenomics data, including taxonomic and functional profiling |
MetaPhlAn | Metagenomics data analysis | Fast and accurate taxonomic assignment of metagenomic reads |
Sourmash | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the comparison and analysis of microbial signatures (sourmash signatures) |
MetaMap | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the mapping of high-throughput sequencing reads to reference genomes |
R packages to analyze metagenomics data:
Library | Applications | Key Advantages |
---|---|---|
phyloseq | Metagenomics data visualization and analysis | Provides tools for the visualization and statistical analysis of metagenomics data |
metagenomeSeq | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the statistical analysis of metagenomics data, includes support for differential abundance analysis |
Vegan | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of community composition data, includes support for ordination and diversity analysis |
phyloT | Metagenomics data visualization | Provides tools for the visualization of metagenomics data, including phylogenetic trees and networks |
Tn-SeqR | Metagenomics data analysis | Provides tools for the analysis of transposon sequencing data, including taxonomic assignment and abundance estimation |