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Updated: May 6, 2026

Purifying the Impure: Sequencing Metagenomes and Metatranscriptomes from Complex Animal-associated Samples
Published on: December 22, 2014
Metadata-driven comparative analysis tool for sequences (meta-CATS): an automated process for identifying significant
B E Pickett1, M Liu, E L Sadat
1J. Craig Venter Institute, 10355 Science Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
Abstract:
The Virus Pathogen Resource (ViPR; www.viprbrc.org) and Influenza Research Database (IRD; www.fludb.org) have developed a metadata-driven Comparative Analysis Tool for Sequences (meta-CATS), which performs statistical comparative analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequence data to identify correlations between sequence variations and virus attributes (metadata). Meta-CATS guides users through: selecting a set of nucleotide or protein sequences; dividing them into multiple groups based on any associated metadata attribute (e.g. isolation location, host species); performing a statistical test at each aligned position; and identifying all residues that significantly differ between the groups. As proofs of concept, we have used meta-CATS to identify sequence biomarkers associated with dengue viruses isolated from different hemispheres, and to identify variations in the NS1 protein that are unique to each of the 4 dengue serotypes. Meta-CATS is made freely available to virology researchers to identify genotype-phenotype correlations for development of improved vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
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