Mitohelper: a Python-based mitochondrial reference sequence analysis tool for fish eDNA studies

Introducing Mitohelper, a Python-based mitochondrial reference sequence analysis tool for fish eDNA studies. We built fish reference datasets for 1) all mitochondrial sequences, 2) COI sequences, and 3) 12S rRNA gene sequences by adding gene names and structured taxonomic information to publicly available sequences in the MitoFish database.

Features include:

  • getrecord - searches MitoFish for available mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase, 12S rRNA, and others) gene sequences against a user-provided list of fish taxonomic names

  • getalignment - aligns (often partial) mitochondrial gene sequences to a user-specified full-length reference sequence for the assessment and visualization of overlapping sequencing regions

  • QIIME2-compatible, ready-to-use taxonomic classifiers based on Mitohelper's (MitoFish) 12S rRNA dataset, and Mitohelper’s 12S rRNA + SILVA v138 16S rRNA + SILVA v138 18S rRNA are available for download

Mitohelper and its reference datasets are updated approximately monthly and available at https://github.com/aomlomics/mitohelper. The paper describing Mitohelper is available here (DOI: 10.1002/edn3.187).

7 Likes

Hi Thompson,
Can the QIIME2 compatible database be downloaded directly for species taxonomic annotation of fish? Is the database built on MitoFish?
Miao Li

Hi Miao Li,

Yes, the Mitohelper database is based on MitoFish. The latest release (March 2023), which is QIIME2-compatible, can be downloaded from Zenodo.

Luke

Luke,

Thank you for your reply! Will this database of yours be updated in real time as MitoFish is updated?

Miao Li

Hi Miao Li,

The Mitohelper database is updated approximately every 2 months.

Luke