makeFeatureDbFromUCSC {GenomicFeatures} | R Documentation

## Making a FeatureDb object from annotations available at the UCSC Genome Browser

### Description

The `makeFeatureDbFromUCSC` function allows the user to make a FeatureDb object from simple annotation tracks at UCSC. The tracks in question must (at a minimum) have a start, end and a chromosome affiliation in order to be made into a FeatureDb. This function requires a precise declaration of its first three arguments to indicate which genome, track and table wish to be imported. There are discovery functions provided to make this process go smoothly.

### Usage

    supportedUCSCFeatureDbTracks(genome)

    supportedUCSCFeatureDbTables(genome, track)

    UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema(genome,
                             track,
                             tablename)

    makeFeatureDbFromUCSC(
            genome,
            track,
            tablename,
            columns = UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema(genome,track,tablename),
            url="http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/",
            goldenPath.url=getOption("UCSC.goldenPath.url"),
            chromCol,
            chromStartCol,
            chromEndCol,
            taxonomyId=NA)

### Arguments

`genome` | genome abbreviation used by UCSC and obtained by `ucscGenomes()[ , "db"]`. For example: `"hg18"`.
`track` | name of the UCSC track. Use `supportedUCSCFeatureDbTracks` to get the list of available tracks for a particular genome
`tablename` | name of the UCSC table containing the annotations to retrieve. Use the `supportedUCSCFeatureDbTables` utility function to get the list of supported tables for a track.
`columns` | a named character vector to list out the names and types of the other columns that the downloaded track should have. Use `UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema` to retrieve this information for a particular table.
`url,goldenPath.url` | use to specify the location of an alternate UCSC Genome Browser.
`chromCol` | If the schema comes back and the 'chrom' column has been labeled something other than 'chrom', use this argument to indicate what that column has been labeled as so we can properly designate it. This could happen (for example) with the knownGene track tables, which has no 'chromStart' or 'chromEnd' columns, but which DOES have columns that could reasonably substitute for these columns under particular circumstances. Therefore we allow these three columns to have arguments so that their definition can be re-specified
`chromStartCol` | Same thing as chromCol, but for renames of 'chromStart'
`chromEndCol` | Same thing as chromCol, but for renames of 'chromEnd'
`taxonomyId` | By default this value is NA and the organism inferred will be used to look up the correct value for this. But you can use this argument to override that and supply your own valid taxId here.

### Details

`makeFeatureDbFromUCSC` is a convenience function that builds a tiny database from one of the UCSC track tables. `supportedUCSCFeatureDbTracks` a convenience function that returns potential track names that could be used to make FeatureDb objects `supportedUCSCFeatureDbTables` a convenience function that returns potential table names for FeatureDb objects (table names go with a track name) `UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema` A convenience function that creates a named vector of types for all the fields that can potentially be supported for a given track. By default, this will be called on your specified tablename to include all of the fields in a track.

### Value

A FeatureDb object for `makeFeatureDbFromUCSC`. Or in the case of `supportedUCSCFeatureDbTracks` and `UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema` a named character vector

### Author(s)

M. Carlson

### See Also

`ucscGenomes`,

### Examples

    ## Display the list of genomes available at UCSC:
    library(GenomicFeatures)
    library(rtracklayer)
    ucscGenomes()[ , "db"]

    ## Display the list of Tracks supported by makeFeatureDbFromUCSC():
    # supportedUCSCFeatureDbTracks("mm10")

    ## Display the list of tables supported by your track:
    supportedUCSCFeatureDbTables(genome="mm10",
                                 track="qPCR Primers")

    ## Display fields that could be passed in to colnames:
    UCSCFeatureDbTableSchema(genome="mm10",
                             track="qPCR Primers",
                             tablename="qPcrPrimers")

    ## Retrieving a full transcript dataset for Mouse from UCSC:
    fdb <- makeFeatureDbFromUCSC(genome="mm10",
                                  track="qPCR Primers",
                                  tablename="qPcrPrimers")
    fdb

[Package GenomicFeatures version 1.40.1 Index]