Hi,
I'm using the LiftOver utility to update a list of gene and exon locations
from mm8 to mm9, using the 'mm8ToMm9.over.chain' file. My problem is with
the BED format and liftOver. I have a text file with 42000 rows that looks
like so:

chr8 68547513 69399414 March1 0 = 68896145 69397519 0 8
239,77,209,51,80,181,148,2194,
68547513,68808318,68896035,69205650,69315428,69347804,69385041,69397220
chr17 33292398 33325385 March2 0 = 33294782 33316635 0 6
2531,135,210,196,228,125,
33292398,33298704,33302721,33309785,33316459,33325260
chr18 56887084 57050917 March3 0 = 56887883 56937388 0 5
853,210,205,244,242, 56887084,56908387,56933032,56937200,57050675
chr1 72360320 72469772 March4 0 = 0 0 0 0 0, 0,
chr19 37272964 37287281 March5 0 = 37273013 37286650 0 6
84,203,131,184,167,748,
37272964,37275814,37282326,37285446,37285782,37286533,

Using all 12 of the parameters allowed in the BED file format (it's ordered
properly; http://genome.ucsc.edu/FAQ/FAQformat#format1). The problem lies in
the blockCounts. If I have zero known exons, as is the case in the gene
March4, the program throws me a Catch-22. I am required to put "0" in the
blockCount when there are no exons; the program breaks if I leave it as
null. However, if I put "0 0, 0," the program throws (as expected) a
segmentation fault at me (since I told it to expect 0 elements, but it got
1).

e.g. if I run a file using only the first 3 lines:
"$ ./liftOver GeneListmm8_LiftOverThis.txt mm8ToMm9.over.chain
GeneListmm9.txt unMapped.txt
Reading liftover chains
Mapping coordinates"

but if I include line 4 I either get (with blockCount = 0)

"$ ./liftOver GeneListmm8_LiftOverThis.txt mm8ToMm9.over.chain
GeneListmm9.txt unMapped.txt
Reading liftover chains
Mapping coordinates
Segmentation fault"

or (removing blockCount; if I say 0 blockCount and remove blockSizes and
blockStarts I also get an error, just "got 10" instead of "got 9")

"$ ./liftOver GeneListmm8_LiftOverThis.txt mm8ToMm9.over.chain
GeneListmm9.txt unMapped.txt
Reading liftover chains
Mapping coordinates
Expecting 12 words line 4 of GeneListmm8_LiftOverThis.txt got 9"

I suppose I could do this by splitting it into two files; one with genes
with exons, the other with genes without, but that seems clumsy. Am I
missing something or doing something wrong, or is this a bug in liftOver?


Thank you.
Evan Williams
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