Fasta2Structure: a user-friendly tool for converting multiple aligned FASTA files to STRUCTURE format

Area of Science:

• Bioinformatics
• Population Genetics
• Computational Biology

Background:

• The STRUCTURE software is widely used for population structure and genetic analysis.
• Formatting multilocus data for STRUCTURE can be complex and error-prone.
• Existing methods for data preparation require significant manual effort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a user-friendly graphical application for data format conversion.
• To streamline the process of preparing multilocus sequence data for the STRUCTURE software.
• To minimize errors associated with manual data formatting.

Main Methods:

• Developed a GUI application using Tkinter and Biopython.
• Implemented functionality to process multiple FASTA files.
• Automated the identification of variable sites and conversion to binary format.
• Concatenated processed sequences into a single file compatible with STRUCTURE.

Main Results:

• The application successfully converts multiple sequence alignments into a single, concatenated binary file.
• Variable sites are accurately identified and sequences are formatted for STRUCTURE input.
• The GUI allows users to review and confirm the processed data before saving.
• The output file is directly usable by the STRUCTURE software.

Conclusions:

• The developed application provides an efficient and reliable solution for data preparation for population genetic analyses.
• The GUI-based tool simplifies the workflow, reduces potential errors, and is valuable for researchers using STRUCTURE.
• This tool enhances the accessibility and usability of population genetic analysis software.