Scalable multiple whole-genome alignment and locally collinear block construction with SibeliaZ
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Abstract
Multiple whole-genome alignment is a challenging problem in bioinformatics. Despite many successes, current methods are not able to keep up with the growing number, length, and complexity of assembled genomes, especially when computational resources are limited. Approaches based on compacted de Bruijn graphs to identify and extend anchors into locally collinear blocks have potential for scalability, but current methods do not scale to mammalian genomes. We present an algorithm, SibeliaZ-LCB, for identifying collinear blocks in closely related genomes based on analysis of the de Bruijn graph. We further incorporate this into a multiple whole-genome alignment pipeline called SibeliaZ. SibeliaZ shows run-time improvements over other methods while maintaining accuracy. On sixteen recently-assembled strains of mice, SibeliaZ runs in under 16 hours on a single machine, while other tools did not run to completion for eight mice within a week. SibeliaZ makes a significant step towards improving scalability of multiple whole-genome alignment and collinear block reconstruction algorithms on a single machine.
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SibeliaZ provided better performance in terms of time of execution compared with the Mercator tool.
“It also provided be tt er performance in terms of time of execution compared with the Mercator tool.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
The Results section (‘Datasets, tools, and evaluation metrics’; page not provided) explicitly says the authors did not run Mercator because it requires gene-exon input and solves a different problem. The reported execution-time comparisons are with Cactus, not Mercator, so the paper does not report the attributed performance comparison. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSibeliaZ-LCB constructs locally collinear blocks (LCBs) by grouping aligned regions that exhibit consistent gene order and orientation across genomes.
“based on the alignment, it constructs locally collinear blocks (LCBs) by grouping aligned regions that exhibit consistent gene order and orientation across the genomes.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
The Results (Algorithm overview; page not provided) confirm that SibeliaZ-LCB identifies blocks of homologous genomic subsequences. But it takes a de Bruijn graph as input, not an existing alignment, and the Introduction says the blocks are found before sequence alignment. The paper describes collinearity in terms of genomic walks, not grouping regions by consistent gene order and orientation. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSibeliaZ-LCB performs pairwise sequence alignments between input genomes to identify regions of similarity and homology.
“Thus, SibeliaZ-LCB performs pairwise sequence alignments between the input genomes to identify regions of similarity and homology.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
The Results (Algorithm overview; page unavailable) say SibeliaZ-LCB identifies blocks of homologous subsequences, supporting the homology-identification part. But it takes a de Bruijn graph as input and identifies blocks from that graph; the Introduction says a separate aligner runs afterward. The paper does not describe SibeliaZ-LCB as performing pairwise sequence alignments between input genomes. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOn sixteen recently assembled mice genomes, SibeliaZ ran in less than 16 h on a single machine, while other tools did not run to completion for eight mice within a week.
“On sixteen recently assembled mice genomes, SibeliaZ ran in less than 16 h on a single machine, while other tools did not run to completion for eight mice within a week.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
SibeliaZ-LCB is suitable for detecting homologous sequences that have an evolutionary distance to the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of at most 0.09 substitutions per site.
“SibeliaZ-LCB is suitable for detecting homologous sequences that have an evolutionary distance to the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of at most 0.09 substitutions per site [39].”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
SibeliaZ-LCB identifies collinear blocks in closely related genomes based on the construction of a de Bruijn graph.
“This algorithm is used to identify collinear blocks in closely related genomes based on the construction of a de Bruijn graph [39] to build collinear blocks (Figure 9).”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
LCBs are represented as blocks of homologous sequences that are likely to have originated from a common ancestor.
“LCBs are represented as blocks of homologous sequences that are likely to have originated from a common ancestor.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
Accuracy of WGA algorithms is influenced by the algorithm's ability to correctly identify homologous regions, handle genomic rearrangements, and align divergent sequences.
“Accuracy is influenced by the algorithm's ability to correctly identify homologous regions, handle genomic rearrangements, and align divergent sequences [39,47].”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
SibeliaZ typically has a worst-case time complexity of O(n^2), where n is the total length of the input sequences.
“However, it typically has a worst-case time complexity of O ( n 2 ), where n is the total length of the input sequences.”
From Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions (2024) · cites this paper as [39]
The Discussion (page unavailable) says a useful formal analysis of SibeliaZ-LCB’s runtime remains an open question; it gives no O(n²) bound. Searches for quadratic and worst-case complexity found no passage establishing the claimed bound for SibeliaZ. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
Progressive Cactus is a multiple-genome aligner for the thousand-genome era
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Eizenga, J. M., Novak, A. M., Sibbesen, J. A., Heumos, S., Ghaffaari, A., Hickey, G., Chang, X., Seaman, J. D., Rounthwaite, R., Ebler, J., et al. (2020) · Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics · doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-120219-080406 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
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Whole-Genome Alignment: Methods, Challenges, and Future Directions
Saada, B., Zhang, T., Siga, E., Zhang, J., & Magalhães Muniz, M. M. (2024) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app14114837 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Minkin, I., & Medvedev, P.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Minkin, Ilia
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2020-12-10
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 6327-6327
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7728760
- OpenAlex
- W3111607156
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 3.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (CCF-1439057, IIS-1453527, DBI-1356529, IIS-1421908)
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM130691)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genome Rearrangement Algorithms
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Algorithms and Data Compression
- Keywords
- de Bruijn graph, genome assembly comparison, mouse genome, scalability, closely related genomes
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Animals, Base Sequence, Computer Simulation, Nucleotides, Time Factors, Genetic Variation, Genome, Databases, Genetic, Mice
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