How can I extract start and end codon from DNA sequences in Perl?

bioinformatics, perl

Solution

I removed the use of `$_` (I especially shuddered when you `local`ized it -- you did so correctly, but why force yourself to worry if some other function is going to clobber `$_`, rather than use `$rna_sq` which is already available?

Additionally I corrected `$start` and `$stop` to be 0-based indexes into the string (which made the rest of the math more straight-forward), and calculated `$genelen` early so it could be used directly in the `substr` operation. (Alternatively, you could localize `$[` to 1 to use 1-based array indexes, see perldoc perlvar.)

use strict;
use warnings;
while (my $line = <DATA>) {
    chomp $line;
    print "processing $line\n";
    my ($id, $rna_sq) = split(/\s+/, $line);

    while ($rna_sq =~ /atg/g) {
        # $start and $stop are 0-based indexes
        my $start = pos($rna_sq) - 3; # back up to include the start sequence

        # discard remnant if no stop sequence can be found
        last unless $rna_sq =~ /tga|taa|tag/g;

        my $stop    = pos($rna_sq);
        my $genelen = $stop - $start;

        my $gene    = substr($rna_sq, $start, $genelen);
        print "\t" . join(' ', $id, $start+1, $stop, $gene, $genelen) . "\n";
    }
}

Problem

I have a code below that try to identify the position of start and end codon of the given DNA sequences. We define start codon as a ATG sequence and end codon as TGA,TAA,TAG sequences. The problem I have is that the code below works only for first two sequences (DM208659 and AF038953) but not the rest. What's wrong with my approach below? This code can be copy-pasted from here. ``` #!/usr/bin/perl -w while (<DATA>) { chomp; print "$_\n"; my ($id,$rna_sq) = split(/\s+/,$_); local $_ = $rna_sq; while (/atg/g) { my $start = pos() - 2; if (/tga|taa|tag/g) { my $stop = pos(); my $gene = substr( $_, $start - 1, $stop - $start + 1 ),$/; my $genelen = length($gene); my $ct = "$id $start $stop $gene $genelen"; print "\t$ct\n"; } } } __DATA__ DM208659 gtgggcctcaaatgtggagcactattctgatgtccaagtggaaagtgctgcgacatttgagcgtcac AF038953 gatcccagacctcggcttgcagtagtgttagactgaagataaagtaagtgctgtttgggctaacaggatctcctcttgcagtctgcagcccaggacgctgattccagcagcgccttaccgcgcagcccgaagattcactatggtgaaaatcgccttcaatacccctaccgccgtgcaaaaggaggaggcgcggcaagacgtggaggccctcctgagccgcacggtcagaactcagatactgaccggcaaggagctccgagttgccacccaggaaaaagagggctcctctgggagatgtatgcttactctcttaggcctttcattcatcttggcaggacttattgttggtggagcctgcatttacaagtacttcatgcccaagagcaccatttaccgtggagagatgtgcttttttgattctgaggatcctgcaaattcccttcgtggaggagagcctaacttcctgcctgtgactgaggaggctgacattcgtgaggatgacaacattgcaatcattgatgtgcctgtccccagtttctctgatagtgaccctgcagcaattattcatgactttgaaaagggaatgactgcttacctggacttgttgctggggaactgctatctgatgcccctcaatacttctattgttatgcctccaaaaaatctggtagagctctttggcaaactggcgagtggcagatatctgcctcaaacttatgtggttcgagaagacctagttgctgtggaggaaattcgtgatgttagtaaccttggcatctttatttaccaactttgcaataacagaaagtccttccgccttcgtcgcagagacctcttgctgggtttcaacaaacgtgccattgataaatgctggaagattagacacttccccaacgaatttattgttgagaccaagatctgtcaagagtaagaggcaacagatagagtgtccttggtaataagaagtcagagatttacaatatgactttaacattaaggtttatgggatactcaagatatttactcatgcatttactctattgcttatgccgtaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa BC021011 ggggagtccggggcggcgcctggaggcggagccgcccgctgggctaaatggggcagaggccgggaggggtgggggttccccgcgccgcagccatggagcagcttcgcgccgccgcccgtctgcagattgttctg DM208660 gggatactcaaaatgggggcgctttcctttttgtctgtactgggaagtgcttcgattttggggtgtccc AF038954 ggacccaagggggccttcgaggtgccttaggccgcttgccttgctctcagaatcgctgccgccatggctagtcagtctcaggggattcagcagctgctgcaggccgagaagcgggcagccgagaaggtgtccgaggcccgcaaaagaaagaaccggaggctgaagcaggccaaagaagaagctcaggctgaaattgaacagtaccgcctgcagagggagaaagaattcaaggccaaggaagctgcggcattgggatcccgtggcagttgcagcactgaagtggagaaggagacccaggagaagatgaccatcctccagacatacttccggcagaacagggatgaagtcttggacaacctcttggcttttgtctgtgacattcggccagaaatccatgaaaactaccgcataaatggatagaagagagaagcacctgtgctgtggagtggcattttagatgccctcacgaatatggaagcttagcacagctctagttacattcttaggagatggccattaaattatttccatatattataagagaggtccttccactttttggagagtagccaatctagctttttggtaacagacttagaaattagcaaagatgtccagctttttaccacagattcctgagggattttagatgggtaaatagagtcagactttgaccaggttttgggcaaagcacatgtatatcagtgtggacttttcctttcttagatctagtttaaaaaaaaaaaccccttaccattctttgaagaaaggaggggattaaataattttttcccctaacactttcttgaaggtcaggggctttatctatgaaaagttagtaaatagttctttgtaacctgtgtgaagcagcagccagccttaaagtagtccattcttgctaatggttagaacagtgaatactagtggaattgtttgggctgcttttagtttctcttaatcaaaattactagatgatagaattcaagaacttgttacatgtattacttggtgtatcgataatcatttaaaagtaaagactctgtcatgcaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ```

Original source