Cython bindings and Python interface to Prodigal, an ORF finder for genomes and metagenomes. Now with SIMD!

Pyrodigal is a Python module that provides bindings to Prodigal using Cython. It directly interacts with the Prodigal internals, which has the following advantages:

.. grid:: 1 2 3 3
   :gutter: 1

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`battery-full` Batteries-included

      Just add ``pyrodigal`` as a ``pip`` or ``conda`` dependency, no need
      for the Prodigal binary or any external dependency.

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`screwdriver-wrench` Flexible I/O

      Directly pass sequences to process as Python `str` objects, no
      need for intermediate files.

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`memory` Memory-efficient

      Benefit from conservative memory allocation and a reworked data layout
      for candidate nodes.

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`microchip` Faster computation

      Use the full power of your CPU with :wiki:`SIMD` instructions to
      filter out candidate genes prior to the scoring stage.

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`check` Consistent results

      Get the same results as Prodigal ``v2.6.3+31b300a``, with additional
      bug fixes compared to the latest stable Prodigal version.

   .. grid-item-card:: :fas:`toolbox` Feature-complete

      Access all the features of the original CLI through the :doc:`Python API <api/index>`
      or a :doc:`drop-in CLI replacement <guide/cli>`.

The library now features everything from the original Prodigal CLI:

• run mode selection: Choose between single mode, using a training sequence to count nucleotide hexamers, or metagenomic mode, using pre-trained data from different organisms (prodigal -p).
• region masking: Prevent genes from being predicted across regions containing unknown nucleotides (prodigal -m).
• closed ends: Genes will be identified as running over edges if they are larger than a certain size, but this can be disabled (prodigal -c).
• training configuration: During the training process, a custom translation table can be given (prodigal -g), and the Shine-Dalgarno motif search can be forcefully bypassed (prodigal -n)
• output files: Output files can be written in a format mostly compatible with the Prodigal binary, including the protein translations in FASTA format (prodigal -a), the gene sequences in FASTA format (prodigal -d), or the potential gene scores in tabular format (prodigal -s). See the :doc:`Output Formats <guide/outputs>` section for supported formats.
• training data persistence: Getting training data from a sequence and using it for other sequences is supported; in addition, a training data file can be saved and loaded transparently (prodigal -t).

In addition, the new features are available:

• custom gene size threshold: While Prodigal uses a minimum gene size of 90 nucleotides (60 if on edge), Pyrodigal allows to customize this threshold, allowing for smaller ORFs to be identified if needed.

Several changes were done regarding memory management:

• digitized sequences: Sequences are stored as raw bytes instead of compressed bitmaps. This means that the sequence itself takes 3/8th more space, but since the memory used for storing the sequence is often negligible compared to the memory used to store dynamic programming nodes, this is an acceptable trade-off for better performance when extracting said nodes.
• node buffer growth: Node arrays are dynamically allocated and grow exponentially instead of being pre-allocated with a large size. On small sequences, this leads to Pyrodigal using about 30% less memory.
• lightweight genes: Genes are stored in a more compact data structure than in Prodigal (which reserves a buffer to store string data), saving around 1KiB per gene.

Run pip install pyrodigal in a shell to download the latest release and all its dependencies from PyPi, or have a look at the :doc:`Installation page <guide/install>` to find other ways to install pyrodigal.

Pyrodigal is scientific software, with a published paper in the Journal of Open-Source Software. Check the :doc:`Publications page <guide/publications>` to see how to cite Pyrodigal properly.

Check the following pages of the user guide or the API reference for more in-depth reference about library setup, usage, and rationale:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   User Guide <guide/index>
   API Reference <api/index>

The following Python libraries may be of interest for bioinformaticians.

This library is provided under the GNU General Public License v3.0. The Prodigal code was written by Doug Hyatt and is distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 as well. See the :doc:`Copyright Notice <guide/copyright>` section for the full GPLv3 license.

This project is in no way not affiliated, sponsored, or otherwise endorsed by the original Prodigal authors. It was developed by Martin Larralde during his PhD project at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in the Zeller team.

The project icon was derived from UXWing and is re-used under their permissive license.