Flexible protein database based on amino acid k-mers

Identification of proteins is one of the most computationally intensive steps in genomics studies. It usually relies on aligners that do not accommodate rich information on proteins and require additional pipelining steps for protein identification. We introduce kAAmer, a protein database engine based on amino-acid k-mers that provides efficient identification of proteins while supporting the incorporation of flexible annotations on these proteins. Moreover, the database is built to be used as a microservice, to be hosted and queried remotely.

Automated summary

Protein identification is a computationally intensive step in genomics studies. This study introduces kAAmer, a protein database engine that efficiently identifies proteins and allows for flexible protein annotations. The database can also be used as a microservice, hosted and queried remotely.