I have created two new UNITE fungal classifiers for QIIME2 that I’d like to share with you, since the classifiers that I posted previously (UNITE (ver. 7.2) Classifiers) use an old version of UNITE and are also no longer compatible with the newest release of QIIME2 (2019.1). Links were created with the help of @gregcaporaso and @thermokarst.
There are two classifiers available. One uses a 99% threshold and the other is ‘dynamic,’ meaning it uses either a 97% or 99% threshold (or somewhere in between) based on which is more accurate for certain lineages of fungi (as determined manually by experts in the field).
UNITE requests that you include the following citation when using this resource: “UNITE Community (2019): UNITE QIIME release for Fungi. Version 18.11.2018. UNITE Community. https://doi.org/10.15156/BIO/786334”
This is a life saver for me who is a beginner in this field.
One question to you or anyone who knows the answer. How often these classifiers should be “updated” and is this classifier version you shared compatible to the newest QIIME2 (2019.4) version? Should the classifier be updated as often as UNITE releases a new version? I’m going to try to do my own classifier in the future ( hopefully I will succeed…) but this is for sure very helpful!!
Hi @veeraku,
The classifier can/should be updated if a) the reference database is updated, though no one will burn you for using a slightly older version; and b) if there has been any updates on the algorithm of the classifier itself. The latter point being more crucial for compatibility with the newest qiime2 version which uses an updated scikit bio version.