
                              EMBOSS: maskfeat
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                               Program maskfeat
                                       
Function

   Mask off features of a sequence
   
Description

   maskfeat reads in a sequence with its associated features. The
   features can be found in the annotation of the sequence if it is in a
   format such as EMBL or SWISSPROT which includes features in the
   annotation, or they may be supplied explicitly in a GFF file by using
   the command-lin option '-gff filename'.
   
   The feature table is then searched for features whose type matches the
   specified feature type to be masked. By default, the type is 'repeat*'
   (i.e. any type whose name starts with 'repeat'). You can specify the
   name of any other type of feature, or features that you wish to mask.
   If you wish to specify more than one type of feature, separate their
   names with spaces or commas. The names of the types of feature to be
   found may be wild-carded with asterisks '*' to find gruops of feature
   types sharing a common part of their names.
   
   If you are unsure of the names of feature types in use, please consult
   http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/ for a list of the EMBL feature
   types and see Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in
   http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a list of the Swissprot
   feature types.
   
   If any features matching the specified names of feature types are
   found, then those regions of the sequence will be masked out by
   replacing that part of the sequence by masking characters. The default
   masking characters are 'X' for a protein sequence and 'N' for a
   nucleic acid sequence, although you can specify your own masking
   character, if required.
   
Usage

   Here is a sample session with maskfeat. It masks out a feature whose
   type is "repeat_region" from position 2331 to 2356:
   
% maskfeat em:AB000360
Mask off features of a sequence.
Output sequence [ab000360.fasta]:

Command line arguments

   Mandatory qualifiers:
  [-sequence]          seqall     Sequence database USA
  [-outseq]            seqout     Output sequence USA

   Optional qualifiers:
   -type               string     By default any feature in the feature table
                                  with a type starting 'repeat' is masked. You
                                  can set this to be any feature type you
                                  wish to mask.
                                  See http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/
                                  for a list of the EMBL feature types and see
                                  Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in
                                  http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a
                                  list of the Swissprot feature types.
                                  The type may be wildcarded by using '*'.
                                  If you wish to mask more than one type,
                                  separate their names with spaces or commas,
                                  eg:
                                  *UTR repeat*
   -maskchar           string     Character to use when masking.
                                  Default is 'X' for protein sequences, 'N'
                                  for nucleic sequences.

   Advanced qualifiers: (none)
   General qualifiers:
  -help                bool       report command line options. More
                                  information on associated and general
                                  qualifiers can be found with -help -verbose
   

   Mandatory qualifiers Allowed values Default
   [-sequence]
   (Parameter 1) Sequence database USA Readable sequence(s) Required
   [-outseq]
   (Parameter 2) Output sequence USA Writeable sequence <sequence>.format
   Optional qualifiers Allowed values Default
   -type By default any feature in the feature table with a type starting
   'repeat' is masked. You can set this to be any feature type you wish
   to mask. See http://www3.ebi.ac.uk/Services/WebFeat/ for a list of the
   EMBL feature types and see Appendix A of the Swissprot user manual in
   http://www.expasy.ch/txt/userman.txt for a list of the Swissprot
   feature types. The type may be wildcarded by using '*'. If you wish to
   mask more than one type, separate their names with spaces or commas,
   eg: *UTR repeat* Any string is accepted repeat*
   -maskchar Character to use when masking. Default is 'X' for protein
   sequences, 'N' for nucleic sequences. Any string is accepted 'X' for
   protein, 'N' for nucleic
   Advanced qualifiers Allowed values Default
   (none)
   
Input file format

   It reads in a sequence USA. You can optionally specify a GFF feature
   file to use with the command-line option '-gff filename'.
   
Output file format

   A normal, masked, sequence file.
   
   The output from the above example is:
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>AB000360 AB000360 Homo sapiens PIGC gene, complete cds.
ggatccctgctgcagagggggtaacggtgtctggcttgccaagcaatatttgttgtggtc
tatcatggaagaaataaagtcgggcaatatgaattttttttttctcaaatttgccggatg
gctgtggtgtttctgactcttagttttctcattgtgaaaaaggaatgattatcttcttcg
atcctctcaagagtttccttgttttgagtagattgatagctctttaaaggatgctaagct
cagctaatggaagaagagtctagtttctttgaggctttgattttggttaaactatagagc
tcatacctttctgtatggtgcagcttactattgtctttggattggtaacttaaaaaatac
aaataacatgcctttgagaaccaataaaaactatggatattatccctataaatttacaca
aatccagatataagcatgcaatgtgatatacctaagggatatgtgaaccactgagttaag
aactgctttagagggagatacaatgtgagacacaggctttgggataagactttggtttga
atcctggctctgctctgttaccttagggcaaagttacttaagcatcttgaatctcagctt
ttttaccaaagcaggactaatactaacttacaaggtggtgaggattaagtgaaagaagat
acataaggcacttagcacatagtaggtactcaataagcgatagctaacagatgtctatta
ttattcaaggaattataattttcaaatctgaaatgcagttttaatgtcccataaggtgac
taccacatacatttttctcagacttttagtaaactgagttgatttgactttatctcagta
ctactcttgacctttcacaactttcgtaggttcacagtctctctttttctaggaacttgg
ctgtgttgtcctgcctcagagacaaattcatctattgtaggcctagcccctgcctttgaa
aacaaggaaaggttggtagaacatcaacacagcatggaatttccagggaggtctcatttc
aaaacttcataaagaacaagaaccacctggacttctgtgagggcgatgattaaactggcc
tgagtttgaatgaaaggataatgtatgctcaacctgtgactaacaccaaggaggtcaagt
ggcagaaggtcttgtatgagcgacagccctttcctgataactatgtggaccggcgattcc
tggaagagctccggaaaaacatccatgctcggaaataccaatattgggctgtggtatttg
agtccagtgtggtgatccagcagctgtgcagtgtttgtgtttttgtggttatctggtggt
atatggatgagggtcttctggccccccattggcttttagggactggcctggcttcttcac
tgattgggtatgttttgtttgatctcattgatggaggtgaagggcggaagaagagtgggc
agacccggtgggctgacctgaagagtgccctagtcttcattactttcacttatgggtttt
caccagtgctgaagacccttacagagtctgtcagcactgacaccatctatgccatgtcag
tcttcatgctgttaggccatctcatcttttttgactatggtgccaatgctgccattgtat
ccagcacactatccttgaacatggccatctttgcttctgtatgcttggcatcacgtcttc
cccggtccctgcatgccttcatcatggtgacatttgccattcagatttttgccctgtggc
ccatgttgcagaagaaactaaaggcatgtactccccggagctatgtgggggtcacactgc
tttttgcattttcagccgtgggaggcctactgtccattagtgctgtgggagccgtactct
ttgcccttctgctgatgtctatctcatgtctgtgttcattctacctcattcgcttgcagc
tttttaaagaaaacattcatgggccttgggatgaagctgaaatcaaggaagacttgtcca
ggttcctcagttaaattaggacatccattacattattaaagcaagctgatagattagcct
cctaactagtatagaacttaaagacagagttccattctggaagcagcatgtcattgtggt
aagagaatagagatcaaaaccaaaaaaaatgaaccaaaggcttgggtggtgagggtgctt
atcctttctgttattttgtagatgaaaaaactttctggggacctcttgaattacatgctg
taacatatgaagtgatgtggtttctattaaaaaaataacacatccatcaagttgtctcat
gatttttccataaacaggaggcagacagaggggcatgaagagtgaagtaaNNNNNNNNNN
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNaaagtcacttctttctacccttttcaatgtgctaatgctctttt
atttatctagggctcaaatcttagaacacagggtgctatgctcagttttgttgcccaaga
tcacagaattggttacttaaccttgactcagagtttctaccttgttcttagggaagcata
tcacaactaattgcaaagcagagtgtgatgtgtcacaataagcagaatgctagggggaat
tc
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Data files

   None.
   
Notes

   None.
   
References

   None.
   
Warnings

   None.
   
Diagnostic Error Messages

   None.
   
Exit status

   It always exits with a status of 0.
   
Known bugs

   None.
   
See also

   Program name                          Description
   biosed       Replace or delete sequence sections
   coderet      Extract CDS, mRNA and translations from feature tables
   cutseq       Removes a specified section from a sequence
   degapseq     Removes gap characters from sequences
   descseq      Alter the name or description of a sequence
   entret       Reads and writes (returns) flatfile entries
   extractfeat  Extract features from a sequence
   extractseq   Extract regions from a sequence
   listor       Writes a list file of the logical OR of two sets of sequences
   maskseq      Mask off regions of a sequence
   newseq       Type in a short new sequence
   noreturn     Removes carriage return from ASCII files
   notseq       Excludes a set of sequences and writes out the remaining ones
   nthseq       Writes one sequence from a multiple set of sequences
   pasteseq     Insert one sequence into another
   revseq       Reverse and complement a sequence
   seqret       Reads and writes (returns) sequences
   seqretsplit  Reads and writes (returns) sequences in individual files
   showfeat     Show features of a sequence
   splitter     Split a sequence into (overlapping) smaller sequences
   swissparse   Retrieves sequences from swissprot using keyword search
   trimest      Trim poly-A tails off EST sequences
   trimseq      Trim ambiguous bits off the ends of sequences
   union        Reads sequence fragments and builds one sequence
   vectorstrip  Strips out DNA between a pair of vector sequences
   yank         Reads a sequence range, appends the full USA to a list file
   
   maskseq simply masks a user-specified set of regions, without using
   annotated features.
   
Author(s)

   This application was written by Gary Williams
   (gwilliam@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk)
   
History

   Written (2000) - Gary Williams
   
Target users

   This program is intended to be used by everyone and everything, from
   naive users to embedded scripts.
   
Comments
