Cited by 21,849Genomics and Phylogenetic StudiesAlgorithms and Data CompressionFractal and DNA sequence analysis

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Ultrafast and memory-efficient alignment of short DNA sequences to the human genome.

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Abstract

Bowtie is an ultrafast, memory-efficient alignment program for aligning short DNA sequence reads to large genomes. For the human genome, Burrows-Wheeler indexing allows Bowtie to align more than 25 million reads per CPU hour with a memory footprint of approximately 1.3 gigabytes. Bowtie extends previous Burrows-Wheeler techniques with a novel quality-aware backtracking algorithm that permits mismatches. Multiple processor cores can be used simultaneously to achieve even greater alignment speeds. Bowtie is open source (http://bowtie.cbcb.umd.edu).

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Crossref · 10.1186/gb-2009-10-3-r25

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Figures

Figure 1 Burrows-Wheeler transform. (a) The Burrows-Wheeler matrix and transformation for 'acaacg'. (b) Steps taken by EXACTMATCH to identify the range of rows, and thus the set of reference suffixes, prefixed by 'aac'. (c) UNPERMUTE repeatedly applies the last first (LF) mapping to recover the original text (in red on the top line) from the Burrows-Wheeler transform (in black in the rightmost column).
Figure 1 Burrows-Wheeler transform. (a) The Burrows-Wheeler matrix and transformation for 'acaacg'. (b) Steps taken by EXACTMATCH to identify the range of rows, and thus the set of reference suffixes, prefixed by 'aac'. (c) UNPERMUTE repeatedly applies the last first (LF) mapping to recover the original text (in red on the top line) from the Burrows-Wheeler transform (in black in the rightmost column).CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 2 Exact matching versus inexact alignment. Illustration of how EXACTMATCH (top) and Bowtie's aligner (bottom) proceed when there is no exact match for query 'ggta' but there is a one-mismatch alignment when 'a' is replaced by 'g'. Boxed pairs of numbers denote ranges of matrix rows beginning with the suffix observed up to that point. A red X marks where the algorithm encounters an empty range and either aborts (as in EXACTMATCH) or backtracks (as in the inexact algorithm). A green check marks where the algorithm finds a nonempty range delimiting one or more occurrences of a reportable alignment for the query.
Figure 2 Exact matching versus inexact alignment. Illustration of how EXACTMATCH (top) and Bowtie's aligner (bottom) proceed when there is no exact match for query 'ggta' but there is a one-mismatch alignment when 'a' is replaced by 'g'. Boxed pairs of numbers denote ranges of matrix rows beginning with the suffix observed up to that point. A red X marks where the algorithm encounters an empty range and either aborts (as in EXACTMATCH) or backtracks (as in the inexact algorithm). A green check marks where the algorithm finds a nonempty range delimiting one or more occurrences of a reportable alignment for the query.CC BY · PubMed Central
Figure 3 The three phases of the Bowtie algorithm for the Maq-like policy. A three-phase approach finds alignments for two-mismatch cases 1 to 4 while minimizing backtracking. Phase 1 uses the mirror index and invokes the aligner to find alignments for cases 1 and 2. Phases 2 and 3 cooperate to find alignments for case 3: Phase 2 finds partial alignments with mismatches only in the hi-half, and phase 3 attempts to extend those partial alignments into full alignments. Finally, phase 3 invokes the aligner to find alignments for case 4.
Figure 3 The three phases of the Bowtie algorithm for the Maq-like policy. A three-phase approach finds alignments for two-mismatch cases 1 to 4 while minimizing backtracking. Phase 1 uses the mirror index and invokes the aligner to find alignments for cases 1 and 2. Phases 2 and 3 cooperate to find alignments for case 3: Phase 2 finds partial alignments with mismatches only in the hi-half, and phase 3 attempts to extend those partial alignments into full alignments. Finally, phase 3 invokes the aligner to find alignments for case 4.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Metadata

Authors
Langmead, B., Trapnell, C., Pop, M., & Salzberg, S. L.
Affiliations
University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Corresponding author
Langmead, Ben
Venue
Genome Biology
Published
2009-03-04
Volume
10
Issue
3
Pages
R25-R25
ISSN
  • 1465-6906 (ISSN-L)
  • 1474-760X
OpenAlex
W2124985265
Cited by
21,849
References
29
Citations by year
2026: 620 · 2025: 981 · 2024: 1140 · 2023: 1226 · 2022: 1405 · 2021: 1665 · 2020: 1652 · 2019: 1726 · 2018: 1653 · 2017: 1702 · 2016: 1538 · 2015: 1620 · 2014: 1565 · 2013: 1325 · 2012: 1029
FWCI
267.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Genome biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University Libraries (University of Maryland) (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (University of Maryland College Park)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG004885)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM083873)
  • U.S. National Library of Medicine (R01LM006845)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Theoretical Computer Science › Algorithms and Data Compression
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fractal and DNA sequence analysis
Keywords
Bowtie, human genome, memory-efficient alignment, parallel alignment, next-generation sequencing reads
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Base Sequence, Humans, Genome, Human, Sequence Alignment

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