get_bkg {universalmotif} | R Documentation

## Calculate sequence background.

### Description

For a set of input sequences, calculate the overall sequence background for any k-let size. Only recommended for non-DNA/RNA sequences: otherwise use the much faster and more efficient `Biostrings::oligonucleotideFrequency()`.

### Usage

    get_bkg(sequences, k = 1:3, as.prob = TRUE, pseudocount = 0,
      alphabet = NULL, to.meme = NULL, RC = FALSE, list.out = TRUE,
      nthreads = 1)

### Arguments

`sequences` | `XStringSet` Input sequences. Note that if multiple sequences are present, the results will be combined into one.
`k` | `integer` Size of k-let. Background can be calculated for any k-let size.
`as.prob` | `logical(1)` Whether to return k-let counts or probabilities.
`pseudocount` | `integer(1)` Add a count to each possible k-let. Prevents any k-let from having 0 or 1 probabilities.
`alphabet` | `character(1)` Provide a custom alphabet to calculate a background for. If `NULL`, then standard letters will be assumed for DNA, RNA and AA sequences, and all unique letters found will be used for `BStringSet` type sequences.
`to.meme` | If not `NULL`, then `get_bkg()` will return the sequence background in MEME Markov Background Model format. Input for this argument will be used for `cat(..., file = to.meme)` within `get_bkg()`. See http://meme-suite.org/doc/bfile-format.html for a description of the format.
`RC` | `logical(1)` Calculate the background of the reverse complement of the input sequences as well. Only valid for DNA/RNA.
`list.out` | `logical(1)` Return background frequencies as list, with an entry for each `k`. If `FALSE`, return a single vector.
`nthreads` | `numeric(1)` Run `get_bkg()` in parallel with `nthreads` threads. `nthreads = 0` uses all available threads. Note that no speed up will occur for jobs with only a single sequence.

### Value

If `to.meme = NULL` and `list.out = TRUE`: a list with each entry being a named numeric vector for every element in `k`. If `to.meme = NULL` and `list.out = FALSE`: a named numeric vector. Otherwise: `NULL`, invisibly.

### Author(s)

Benjamin Jean-Marie Tremblay, b2tremblay@uwaterloo.ca

### References

Bailey T, Elkan C (1994). “Fitting a mixture model by expectation maximization to discover motifs in biopolymers.” Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, 2, 28–36.

### See Also

`create_sequences()`, `scan_sequences()`, `shuffle_sequences()`

### Examples

    ## Compare to Biostrings version
    library(Biostrings)
    seqs.DNA <- create_sequences()
    bkg.DNA <- get_bkg(seqs.DNA, k = 3, as.prob = FALSE, list.out = FALSE)
    bkg.DNA2 <- oligonucleotideFrequency(seqs.DNA, 3, 1, as.prob = FALSE)
    bkg.DNA2 <- colSums(bkg.DNA2)
    all(bkg.DNA == bkg.DNA2)

    ## Create a MEME background file
    get_bkg(seqs.DNA, k = 1:3, to.meme = stdout(), pseudocount = 1)

    ## Non-DNA/RNA/AA alphabets
    seqs.QWERTY <- create_sequences("QWERTY")
    bkg.QWERTY <- get_bkg(seqs.QWERTY, k = 1:2)

[Package universalmotif version 1.5.36 Index]