The meaning of DADA2 command "--p-min-fold-parent-over-abundance FLOAT"

Hi all,

Recently I am analyzing MiSeq 2*300 reads sequencing data. I used the Illumina Nextera XT index method for the library preparation.

When I use DADA2 to trim the data, I found a command “–p-min-fold-parent-over-abundance FLOAT”, and DADA2 explained the value should be greater than or equal to 1. I am quite new to sequencing analysis, so I really want to know what’s the meaning of this command (I read the description but did not get it…)?

The reason why I ask this question is because: I realized that when I raised the value from default 1 to for example 8, there are more sequences being yield. (Previously when I used 1, DADA2 filtered out ~80%-90% of my merged sequences as chimeras).

  --p-min-fold-parent-over-abundance FLOAT
                                  The minimum abundance of potential parents
                                  of a sequence being tested as chimeric,
                                  expressed as a fold-change versus the
                                  abundance of the sequence being tested.
                                  Values should be greater than or equal to 1
                                  (i.e. parents should be more abundant than
                                  the sequence being tested). This parameter
                                  has no effect if chimera_method is "none".
                                  [default: 1.0]

From the dada2 website:

Chimeric sequences are identified if they can be exactly reconstructed by combining a left-segment and a right-segment from two more abundant “parent” sequences.

So this parameter sets the minimum fold-abundance difference there must be between a potential chimera and its parents to be flagged as chimera.

So let's imagine you have 3 sequences in your data: x, y, and z (which appears to be a chimera of x + y). If min-fold-parent-over-abundance (P) = 1, z must be equally or less abundant than x and y. If P = 2, x and y must be at least twice as abundant as z for z to be removed. If P = 8, x and y must be at least 8 times as abundant as z for z to be removed!

That all makes sense, given my example above.

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Hi Nicholas,

Thanks so much for your explanation! That’s very clear! Now I get it!

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