Detection of horizontal sequence transfer in microorganisms in the genomic era

Abstract

Sequence transfer and genome remodeling are very frequent events in microorganisms, especially prokaryotes. This is due to the mosaic structure of the genomes, which calls into question the correct classification of genomes in terms of a single gene or a group of genes. We started here, as a first step, the inventory of bioinformatics tools applied to the detection of horizontal sequence transfers in microorganisms in the genomic era by applying bibliometric survey. Our bibliographic analysis allowed us to identify 17 main tools for the detection of chimeras. The first Bellerophon developed in 2004, followed by CCode and Pintail in 2005; Mallard in 2006; Mothur in 2009; Blackbox Chimera in 2010; Perseus, ChimeraSlayer, UCHIME 1 and UCHIME2, and ChimeraScan in 2011; Decipher in 2012; EBARDenovo and FunFrame in 2013; CATCh in 2015; Uchime 2 in 2016 and ChimeraMiner in April 2019. We then described each of these tools, highlighting their operating principles as well as the advantages and limitations of each (specificities, sensitivity, rapidity and frequent updates). The number of articles citing these tools has increased over the years especially for Mothur, Uchime, VSEARCH and ChimeraSlayer, thus demonstrating the interest of researchers in these tools and the need to decipher chimeras in genomic era.