Hybracter: Enabling Scalable, Automated, Complete and Accurate Bacterial Genome Assemblies
George Bouras1,2, Ghais Houtak1,2, Ryan R Wick3
1Adelaide Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|January 3, 2024
Summary
Hybracter enables fast, accurate, and scalable recovery of complete bacterial genomes using long-read sequencing. This tool improves bacterial genome assembly and small plasmid recovery, crucial for understanding antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Area of Science:
- Genomics
- Bioinformatics
- Microbial Evolution
Background:
- Complete bacterial genomes are increasingly reconstructed using hybrid assembly (short- and long-reads).
- Complete genomes enhance understanding of bacterial evolution, genomic variation, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes on plasmids.
- Existing long-read assembly algorithms struggle with accurate recovery of small plasmids.
Conclusions:
- Hybracter provides a robust and efficient solution for near-perfect bacterial genome assembly.
- The tool enhances the ability to identify medically significant AMR genes by improving plasmid recovery.
- Hybracter offers flexibility and high performance for both hybrid and long-read-only bacterial genome assembly workflows.
