Bio::SeqFeature Primer
SummaryIncluded librariesPackage variablesSynopsisDescriptionGeneral documentationMethods
Summary
Bio::SeqFeature::Primer - Primer Generic SeqFeature
Package variables
No package variables defined.
Included modules
Bio::Seq
Bio::Tools::SeqStats
Inherit
Bio::Root::Root Bio::SeqFeature::Generic
Synopsis
 # set up a single primer that can be used in a PCR reaction
use Bio::SeqFeature::Primer; # initiate a primer with raw sequence my $primer=Bio::SeqFeature::Primer->new(-seq=>'CTTTTCATTCTGACTGCAACG'); # get the primery tag for the primer # should return Primer my $tag=$primer->primary_tag; # get or set the location that the primer binds to the target at $primer->location(500); my $location=$primer->location(500); # get or set the 5' end of the primer homology, as the primer doesn't # have to be the same as the target sequence $primer->start(2); my $start=$primer->start; # get or set the 3' end of the primer homology $primer->end(19); my $end = $primer->end; # get or set the strand of the primer. Strand should be 1, 0, or -1 $primer->strand(-1); my $strand=$primer->strand; # get or set the id of the primer $primer->display_id('test_id'); my $id=$primer->display_id; # get the tm of the primer. This is calculated for you by the software. # however, see the docs. my $tm = $primer->Tm; print "These are the details of the primer:\n\tTag:\t\t$tag\n\tLocation\t$location\n\tStart:\t\t$start\n"; print "\tEnd:\t\t$end\n\tStrand:\t\t$strand\n\tID:\t\t$id\n\tTm:\t\t$tm\n";
Description
Handle primer sequences. This will allow you to generate a primer
object required for a Bio::Seq::PrimedSeq object. This module is
designed to integrate with Bio::Tools::Primer3 and
Bio::Seq::PrimedSeq.
In addition, you can calculate the melting temperature of the primer.
This module is supposed to implement location and range, presumably
through generic.pm, but does not do so yet. However, it does allow you
to set primers, and use those objects as the basis for
Bio::Seq::PrimedSeq objects.
See also the POD for Bio::Seq::PrimedSeq and
Bio::Tools::Nucleotide::Analysis::Primer3
Methods
BEGIN Code
AUTOLOAD
No description
Code
newDescriptionCode
seqDescriptionCode
primary_tag
No description
Code
source_tagDescriptionCode
locationDescriptionCode
startDescriptionCode
endDescriptionCode
strandDescriptionCode
display_idDescriptionCode
TmDescriptionCode
Tm_estimateDescriptionCode
Methods description
new()code    nextTop
 Title   : new()
Usage : $primer = Bio::SeqFeature::Primer(-seq=>sequence_object);
Function: Instantiate a new object
Returns : A SeqPrimer object
Args : You must pass either a sequence object (preferable) or a sequence.
seq()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : seq()
Usage : $seq = $primer->seq();
Function: Return the sequence associated with this Primer.
Returns : A Bio::Seq object
Args : None.
source_tag()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : source_tag()
Usage : $tag = $feature->source_tag();
Function: Returns the source of this tag.
Returns : A string.
Args : If an argument is provided, the source of this SeqFeature
is set to that argument.
location()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : location()
Usage : $tag = $primer->location();
Function: Gets or sets the location of the primer on the sequence
Returns : If the location is set, returns that, if not returns 0.
Note: At the moment I am using the primer3 notation of location
(although you can set whatever you want).
In this form, both primers are given from their 5' ends and a length.
In this case, the left primer is given from the leftmost end, but
the right primer is given from the rightmost end.
You can use start() and end() to get the leftmost and rightmost base
of each sequence.
Args : If supplied will set a location
start()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : start()
Usage : $start_position = $primer->start($new_position);
Function: Return the start position of this Primer.
This is the leftmost base, regardless of whether it is a left or right primer.
Returns : The start position of this primer or 0 if not set.
Args : If supplied will set a start position.
end()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : end()
Usage : $end_position = $primer->end($new_position);
Function: Return the end position of this primer.
This is the rightmost base, regardless of whether it is a left or right primer.
Returns : The end position of this primer.
Args : If supplied will set an end position.
strand()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : strand()
Usage : $strand=$primer->strand()
Function: Get or set the strand.
Returns : The strand that the primer binds to.
Args : If an argument is supplied will set the strand, otherwise will return it. Should be 1, 0 (not set), or -1
display_id()codeprevnextTop
 Title   : display_id()
Usage : $id = $primer->display_id($new_id)
Function: Returns the display ID for this Primer feature
Returns : A scalar.
Args : If an argument is provided, the display_id of this primer is set to that value.
Tm()codeprevnextTop
  Title   : Tm()
Usage : $tm = $primer->Tm(-salt=>'0.05', -oligo=>'0.0000001')
Function: Calculates and returns the Tm (melting temperature) of the primer
Returns : A scalar containing the Tm.
Args : -salt set the Na+ concentration on which to base the calculation (default=0.05 molar).
: -oligo set the oligo concentration on which to base the calculation (default=0.00000025 molar).
Notes : Calculation of Tm as per Allawi et. al Biochemistry 1997 36:10581-10594. Also see
documentation at http://biotools.idtdna.com/analyzer/ as they use this formula and
have a couple nice help pages. These Tm values will be about are about 0.5-3 degrees
off from those of the idtdna web tool. I don't know why.
This was suggested by Barry Moore (thanks!). See the discussion on the bioperl-l with the subject "Bio::SeqFeature::Primer Calculating the PrimerTM"
Tm_estimatecodeprevnextTop
 Title   : Tm_estimate
Usage : $tm = $primer->Tm_estimate(-salt=>'0.05')
Function: Calculates and returns the Tm (melting temperature) of the primer
Returns : A scalar containing the Tm.
Args : -salt set the Na+ concentration on which to base the calculation.
Notes : This is an estimate of the Tm that is kept in for comparative reasons.
You should probably use Tm instead!
This Tm calculations are taken from the Primer3 docs: They are based on Bolton and McCarthy, PNAS 84:1390 (1962) as presented in Sambrook, Fritsch and Maniatis, Molecular Cloning, p 11.46 (1989, CSHL Press). Tm = 81.5 + 16.6(log10([Na+])) + .41*(%GC) - 600/length where [Na+] is the molar sodium concentration, %GC is the %G+C of the sequence, and length is the length of the sequence. However.... I can never get this calculation to give me the same result as primer3 does. Don't ask why, I never figured it out. But I did want to include a Tm calculation here becuase I use these modules for other things besides reading primer3 output. The primer3 calculation is saved as 'PRIMER_LEFT_TM' or 'PRIMER_RIGHT_TM' and this calculation is saved as $primer->Tm so you can get both and average them!
Methods code
BEGINTop
BEGIN {
 @RES=qw(); # nothing here yet, not sure what we want!
foreach my $attr (@RES) {$OK_FIELD{$attr}++
}
AUTOLOADdescriptionprevnextTop
sub AUTOLOAD {
 my $self = shift;
 my $attr = $AUTOLOAD;
 $attr =~ s/.*:://;
 $self->throw("Unallowed parameter: $attr !") unless $OK_FIELD{$attr};
 $self->{$attr} = shift if @_;
 return $self->{$attr};
}
newdescriptionprevnextTop
sub new {
  # I have changed some of Chad's code. I hope he doesn't mind. Mine is more stupid than his, but my simple mind gets it.
# I also removed from of the generic.pm things, but we can put them back....
my ($class, %args) = @_; my $self = $class->SUPER::new(%args); # i am going to keep an array of the things that have been passed
# into the object on construction. this will aid retrieval of these
# things later
foreach my $argument (keys %args) { if ($argument eq "-SEQUENCE" || $argument eq "-sequence" || $argument eq "-seq") { if (ref($args{$argument}) eq "Bio::Seq") {$self->{seq} = $args{$argument}} else { unless ($args{-id}) {$args{-id}="SeqFeature Primer object"} $self->{seq} = new Bio::Seq( -seq => $args{$argument}, -id => $args{-id}); } $self->{$argument} = $self->{seq}; push (@{$self->{arguments}}, "seq"); } else { $self->{$argument} = $args{$argument}; push (@{$self->{arguments}}, $argument); # note need to check the BioPerl way of doing this.
} } # now error check and make sure that we at least got a sequence
if (!$self->{seq}) {$self->throw("You must pass in a sequence to construct this object.")} # a bunch of things now need to be set for this SeqFeature
# things like:
# TARGET=513,26
# PRIMER_FIRST_BASE_INDEX=1
# PRIMER_LEFT=484,20
# these can be added in, and we won't demand them, but provide a mechanism to check that they exist
$self->Tm(); return $self;
}
seqdescriptionprevnextTop
sub seq {
     my $self = shift;
     return $self->{seq};
}
primary_tagdescriptionprevnextTop
sub primary_tag {
     return "Primer";
}
source_tagdescriptionprevnextTop
sub source_tag {
     my ($self,$insource) = @_;
     if ($insource) { $self->{source} = $insource; }
     return $self->{source};
}
locationdescriptionprevnextTop
sub location {
     my ($self, $location) = @_;
     if ($location) {$self->{location}=$location}
     if ($self->{location}) {return $self->{location}}
     else {return 0}
}
startdescriptionprevnextTop
sub start {
     my ($self,$start) = @_;
     if ($start) {$self->{start_position} = $start}
     if ($self->{start_position}) {return $self->{start_position}}
     else {return 0}
}
enddescriptionprevnextTop
sub end {
     my ($self,$end) = @_;
     if ($end) {$self->{end_position} = $end}
     if ($self->{end_position}) {return $self->{end_position}}
     else {return 0}
}
stranddescriptionprevnextTop
sub strand {
     my ($self, $strand) = @_;
     if ($strand) {
      unless ($strand == -1 || $strand == 0 ||$strand == 1) {$self->throw("Strand must be either 1, 0, or -1 not $strand")}
      $self->{strand}=$strand;
     }
     if ($self->{strand}) {return $self->{strand}}
     else {return 0}
}
display_iddescriptionprevnextTop
sub display_id {
     my ($self,$newid) = @_;
     if ($newid) {$self->seq()->display_id($newid)}
     return $self->seq()->display_id();
}
TmdescriptionprevnextTop
sub Tm {
     my ($self, %args) = @_;
     my $salt_conc = 0.05; #salt concentration (molar units)
my $oligo_conc = 0.00000025; #oligo concentration (molar units)
if ($args{'-salt'}) {$salt_conc = $args{'-salt'}} #accept object defined salt concentration
if ($args{'-oligo'}) {$oligo_conc = $args{'-oligo'}} #accept object defined oligo concentration
my $seqobj = $self->seq(); my $length = $seqobj->length(); my $sequence = uc $seqobj->seq(); my @dinucleotides; my $enthalpy; my $entropy; #Break sequence string into an array of all possible dinucleotides
while ($sequence =~ /(.)(?=(.))/g) { push @dinucleotides, $1.$2; } #Build a hash with the thermodynamic values
my %thermo_values = ('AA' => {'enthalpy' => -7.9, 'entropy' => -22.2}, 'AC' => {'enthalpy' => -8.4, 'entropy' => -22.4}, 'AG' => {'enthalpy' => -7.8, 'entropy' => -21}, 'AT' => {'enthalpy' => -7.2, 'entropy' => -20.4}, 'CA' => {'enthalpy' => -8.5, 'entropy' => -22.7}, 'CC' => {'enthalpy' => -8, 'entropy' => -19.9}, 'CG' => {'enthalpy' => -10.6, 'entropy' => -27.2}, 'CT' => {'enthalpy' => -7.8, 'entropy' => -21}, 'GA' => {'enthalpy' => -8.2, 'entropy' => -22.2}, 'GC' => {'enthalpy' => -9.8, 'entropy' => -24.4}, 'GG' => {'enthalpy' => -8, 'entropy' => -19.9}, 'GT' => {'enthalpy' => -8.4, 'entropy' => -22.4}, 'TA' => {'enthalpy' => -7.2, 'entropy' => -21.3}, 'TC' => {'enthalpy' => -8.2, 'entropy' => -22.2}, 'TG' => {'enthalpy' => -8.5, 'entropy' => -22.7}, 'TT' => {'enthalpy' => -7.9, 'entropy' => -22.2}, 'A' => {'enthalpy' => 2.3, 'entropy' => 4.1}, 'C' => {'enthalpy' => 0.1, 'entropy' => -2.8}, 'G' => {'enthalpy' => 0.1, 'entropy' => -2.8}, 'T' => {'enthalpy' => 2.3, 'entropy' => 4.1} ); #Loop through dinucleotides and calculate cumulative enthalpy and entropy values
for (@dinucleotides) { $enthalpy += $thermo_values{$_}{enthalpy}; $entropy += $thermo_values{$_}{entropy}; } #Account for initiation parameters
$enthalpy += $thermo_values{substr($sequence, 0, 1)}{enthalpy}; $entropy += $thermo_values{substr($sequence, 0, 1)}{entropy}; $enthalpy += $thermo_values{substr($sequence, -1, 1)}{enthalpy}; $entropy += $thermo_values{substr($sequence, -1, 1)}{entropy}; #Symmetry correction
$entropy -= 1.4; my $r = 1.987; #molar gas constant
my $tm = ($enthalpy * 1000 / ($entropy + ($r * log($oligo_conc))) - 273.15 + (12* (log($salt_conc)/log(10)))); $self->{'Tm'}=$tm; return $tm;
}
Tm_estimatedescriptionprevnextTop
sub Tm_estimate {
 # note I really think that this should be put into seqstats as it is more generic, but what the heck.
my ($self, %args) = @_; my $salt=0.2; if ($args{'-salt'}) {$salt=$args{'-salt'}} my $seqobj=$self->seq(); my $length=$seqobj->length(); my $seqdata = Bio::Tools::SeqStats->count_monomers($seqobj); my $gc=$$seqdata{'G'} + $$seqdata{'C'}; my $percent_gc=($gc/$length)*100;
my $tm= 81.5+(16.6*(log($salt)/log(10)))+(0.41*$percent_gc) - (600/$length); # and now error check compared to primer3
# note that this NEVER gives me the same values, so I am ignoring it
# you can get these out separately anyway
# if ($self->{'PRIMER_LEFT_TM'}) {
# unless ($self->{'PRIMER_LEFT_TM'} == $tm) {
# $self->warn("Calculated $tm for Left primer but received ".$self->{'PRIMER_LEFT_TM'}." from primer3\n");
# }
# }
# elsif ($self->{'PRIMER_RIGHT_TM'}) {
# unless ($self->{'PRIMER_RIGHT_TM'} == $tm) {
# $self->warn("Calculated $tm for Right primer but received ".$self->{'PRIMER_RIGHT_TM'}." from primer3\n");
# }
# }
$self->{'Tm'}=$tm; return $tm;
}
General documentation
FEEDBACKTop
Mailing ListsTop
User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other
Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to one
of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.
  bioperl-l@bioperl.org                  - General discussion
http://bioperl.org/wiki/Mailing_lists - About the mailing lists
Reporting BugsTop
Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track
the bugs and their resolution. Bug reports can be submitted via the
web:
  http://bugzilla.open-bio.org/
AUTHOR Top
Rob Edwards, redwards@utmem.edu
The original concept and much of the code was written by
Chad Matsalla, bioinformatics1@dieselwurks.com
APPENDIXTop
	The rest of the documentation details each of the object
methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _