/ 
bioperl-1.4
/ Bio::Seq::MetaI

NAME

Bio::Seq::MetaI - Interface for sequence objects with residue-based meta information

SYNOPSIS

# get a Bio::Seq::MetaI compliant object somehow

# to test this is a meta seq object
$obj->isa("Bio::Seq::MetaI")
   || $obj->throw("$obj not a Bio::Seq::MetaI");

# accessors
$string     = $obj->meta;
$string     = $obj->meta_text;
$substring  = $obj->submeta(12,50);
$unique_key = $obj->accession_number();

DESCRIPTION

This class defines an abstract interface for basic residue-based meta information. Examples of this kind of meta data are secondary structures (RNA and protein), protein hydrophobicity assignments, or other alternative alphabets for polypeptides, sequence quality data and nucleotide alignments with translations.

The length of the meta data sequence is not dependent on the amount of the meta information. The meta information always covers all the residues, but a blank value is used to denote unavailable information. If necessary the implementation quietly truncates or extends meta information with blank values. Definition of blank is implementation dependent. Gaps in MSAs should not have meta information.

At this point a residue in a sequence object can have only one meta value. If you need more, use multiple copies of the sequence object.

Meta data storage can be implemented in various ways, e.g: string, array of scalars, array of hashes, array of objects.

If the implementation so chooses, there can be more then one meta values associated to each residue. See named_meta and names_submeta. Note that use of arbitrary names is very prone to typos leading to creation of additional copies of meta data sets.

Bio::Seq::Meta provides basic, pure perl implementation of sequences with meta information. See Bio::Seq::Meta. Application specific implementations will override and add to these methods.

Method naming

Character based meta data is read and set by method meta() and its variants. These are the suffixes and prefixes used in the variants:

[named_] [sub] meta [_text]
_text

Suffix _text guaranties that output is a string. Note that it does not limit the input.

sub

Prefix sub, like in subseq(), means that the method applies to sub region of the sequence range and takes start and end as arguments. Unlike subseq(), these methods are able to set values. If the range is not defined, it defaults to the complete sequence.

named_

Prefix named_ in method names allows the used to attach multiple meta strings to one sequence by explicitly naming them. The name is always the first argument to the method. The "unnamed" methods use the class wide default name for the meta data and are thus special cases "named" methods.

Note that internally names are keys in a hash and any misspelling of a name will silently store the data under a wrong name. The used names (keys) can be retrieved using method meta_names(). See meta_names.

SEE ALSO

Bio::Seq::Meta, Bio::Seq::EncodedSeq, Bio::Tools::OddCodes, Bio::Seq::PrimaryQual, Bio::Seq::SeqWithQuality

FEEDBACK

Mailing Lists

User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to one of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.

bioperl-l@bioperl.org                      - General discussion
http://bio.perl.org/MailList.html          - About the mailing lists

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via email or the web:

bioperl-bugs@bio.perl.org
http://bugzilla.bioperl.org/

AUTHOR - Heikki Lehvaslaiho

Email heikki@ebi.ac.uk

CONTRIBUTORS

Chad Matsalla, bioinformatics@dieselwurks.com; Aaron Mackey, amackey@virginia.edu; Peter Schattner schattner@alum.mit.edu; Richard Adams, Richard.Adams@ed.ac.uk

APPENDIX

The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

meta

Title   : meta
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->meta($values_string);
Function:

          Get and set method for the unnamed meta data starting from
          residue position one. Since it is dependent on the length
          of the sequence, it needs to be manipulated after the
          sequence.

          The implementation may choose to accept argument values in
          a string or in an array (reference) or in a hash
          (reference).

          The return value may be a string or an array reference,
          depending on the implentation. If in doubt, use meta_text()
          which is a variant guarantied to return a string.  See
          L<meta_text>.

          The length of the returned value always matches the length
          of the sequence.

Returns : A reference to an array or a string
Args    : new value, optional

meta_text

Title   : meta_text()
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->meta_text($values_arrayref);
Function: Variant of meta() guarantied to return a textual
          representation of the meta data. For details, see L<meta>.
Returns : a string
Args    : new value, optional

named_meta

Title   : named_meta()
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->named_meta($name, $values_arrayref);
Function: A more general version of meta(). Each meta data set needs
          to be named. See also L<meta_names>.
Returns : a string
Args    : scalar, name of the meta data set
          new value, optional

named_meta_text

Title   : named_meta_text()
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->named_meta_text($name, $values_arrayref);
Function: Variant of named_meta() guarantied to return a textual
          representation  of the named meta data.
          For details, see L<meta>.
Returns : a string
Args    : scalar, name of the meta data set
          new value, optional

submeta

Title   : submeta
Usage   : $subset_of_meta_values = $obj->submeta(10, 20, $value_string);
          $subset_of_meta_values = $obj->submeta(10, undef, $value_string);
Function:

          Get and set method for meta data for subsequences.

          Numbering starts from 1 and the number is inclusive, ie 1-2
          are the first two residue of the sequence. Start cannot be
          larger than end but can be equal.

          If the second argument is missing the returned values
          should extend to the end of the sequence.

          If implementation tries to set values beyond the current
          sequence, they should be ignored.

          The return value may be a string or an array reference,
          depending on the implentation. If in doubt, use
          submeta_text() which is a variant guarantied to return a
          string.  See L<submeta_text>.

Returns : A reference to an array or a string
Args    : integer, start position, optional
          integer, end position, optional
          new value, optional

submeta_text

Title   : submeta_text
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->submeta_text(20, $value_string);
Function: Variant of submeta() guarantied to return a textual
          representation  of meta data. For details, see L<meta>.
Returns : a string
Args    : integer, start position, optional
          integer, end position, optional
          new value, optional

named_submeta

Title   : named_submeta
Usage   : $subset_of_meta_values = $obj->named_submeta($name, 10, 20, $value_string);
          $subset_of_meta_values = $obj->named_submeta($name, 10);
Function: Variant of submeta() guarantied to return a textual
          representation  of meta data. For details, see L<meta>.
Returns : A reference to an array or a string
Args    : scalar, name of the meta data set
          integer, start position
          integer, end position, optional when a third argument present
          new value, optional

named_submeta_text

Title   : named_submeta_text
Usage   : $meta_values  = $obj->named_submeta_text($name, 20, $value_string);
Function: Variant of submeta() guarantied to return a textual
          representation  of meta data. For details, see L<meta>.
Returns : a string
Args    : scalar, name of the meta data
Args    : integer, start position, optional
          integer, end position, optional
          new value, optional

meta_names

Title   : meta_names
Usage   : @meta_names  = $obj->meta_names()
Function: Retrives an array of meta data set names. The default (unnamed)
          set name is guarantied to be the first name.
Returns : an array of names
Args    : none

Bio::PrimarySeqI methods

Implemeting classes will need to rewrite these Bio::PrimaryI methods.

revcom

Title   : revcom
Usage   : $newseq = $seq->revcom();
Function: Produces a new Bio::Seq::MetaI implementing object where
          the order of residues and their meta information is reversed.
Returns : A new (fresh) Bio::Seq::MetaI object
Args    : none

trunc

Title   : trunc
Usage   : $subseq = $myseq->trunc(10,100);
Function: Provides a truncation of a sequence
Returns : a fresh Bio::Seq::MetaI implementing object
Args    : Two integers denoting first and last residue of the sub-sequence.