Taxoblast

Raw genomic sequences are frequently contaminated with sequences of other organism. Their identification is essential for the interpretation of genomic data. In this context it is essential to distinguish between horizontal gene transfers and contamination. The genomic context of sequences can help distinguish the two scenarios. Taxoblast splits genomic scaffolds into sub-sequences of defined length and for each of them determines the closest related taxon. It then summarizes this information for the entire scaffold, taking into account the taxonomic ontology. Scaffolds that exclusively match potential contaminants may be safely removed while sequences matching partially contaminants and partially the target organism may constitute horizontal transfers or assembly artifacts and need to be examined manually.