Agent skill
bio-workflows-genome-assembly-pipeline
End-to-end genome assembly workflow from reads to polished assembly with QC. Supports short reads (SPAdes), long reads (Flye), and hybrid approaches. Use when assembling genomes from raw reads.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/data/genome-assembly-pipeline
SKILL.md
Genome Assembly Pipeline
Complete workflow from sequencing reads to polished, quality-assessed genome assembly.
Workflow Overview
Reads (short and/or long)
|
v
[1. QC & Filtering] -----> fastp, NanoPlot
|
v
[2. Assembly] -----------> SPAdes (short) or Flye (long)
|
v
[3. Polishing] ----------> Pilon (short) or medaka (long)
|
v
[4. QC Assessment] ------> QUAST, BUSCO
|
v
Final polished assembly
Path A: Short-Read Assembly (SPAdes)
Step 1: QC
fastp -i reads_R1.fastq.gz -I reads_R2.fastq.gz \
-o trimmed_R1.fq.gz -O trimmed_R2.fq.gz \
--detect_adapter_for_pe \
--qualified_quality_phred 20 \
--length_required 50 \
--html qc_report.html
Step 2: Assembly with SPAdes
# Standard bacterial assembly
spades.py \
-1 trimmed_R1.fq.gz \
-2 trimmed_R2.fq.gz \
-o spades_output \
--careful \
-t 16 \
-m 64
# For isolate genomes
spades.py --isolate \
-1 trimmed_R1.fq.gz \
-2 trimmed_R2.fq.gz \
-o spades_output \
-t 16
Step 3: Polishing with Pilon
# Align reads to assembly
bwa index spades_output/scaffolds.fasta
bwa mem -t 16 spades_output/scaffolds.fasta \
trimmed_R1.fq.gz trimmed_R2.fq.gz | \
samtools sort -@ 4 -o aligned.bam
samtools index aligned.bam
# Polish
pilon --genome spades_output/scaffolds.fasta \
--frags aligned.bam \
--output polished \
--threads 16
Path B: Long-Read Assembly (Flye)
Step 1: QC
# NanoPlot for long-read QC
NanoPlot --fastq reads.fastq.gz \
--outdir nanoplot_output \
--threads 8
Step 2: Assembly with Flye
# ONT raw reads
flye --nano-raw reads.fastq.gz \
--out-dir flye_output \
--threads 16 \
--genome-size 5m
# ONT HQ reads (sup/dna_r10)
flye --nano-hq reads.fastq.gz \
--out-dir flye_output \
--threads 16 \
--genome-size 5m
# PacBio HiFi
flye --pacbio-hifi reads.fastq.gz \
--out-dir flye_output \
--threads 16 \
--genome-size 5m
Step 3: Polishing with medaka
# Polish with medaka (for ONT)
medaka_consensus \
-i reads.fastq.gz \
-d flye_output/assembly.fasta \
-o medaka_output \
-t 16 \
-m r1041_e82_400bps_sup_v4.3.0 # Match your basecalling model
Path C: Hybrid Assembly
# Flye with long reads, then polish with short reads
flye --nano-hq long_reads.fastq.gz \
--out-dir flye_output \
--threads 16 \
--genome-size 5m
# Polish with short reads using Pilon
bwa index flye_output/assembly.fasta
bwa mem -t 16 flye_output/assembly.fasta \
short_R1.fq.gz short_R2.fq.gz | \
samtools sort -@ 4 -o aligned.bam
samtools index aligned.bam
pilon --genome flye_output/assembly.fasta \
--frags aligned.bam \
--output hybrid_polished \
--threads 16
Step 4: Quality Assessment
QUAST
quast.py polished.fasta \
-r reference.fasta \
-g genes.gff \
-o quast_output \
-t 8
# Without reference
quast.py polished.fasta \
-o quast_output \
-t 8
BUSCO
# Download lineage database
busco --download bacteria_odb10
# Run BUSCO
busco -i polished.fasta \
-l bacteria_odb10 \
-o busco_output \
-m genome \
-c 8
Parameter Recommendations
| Tool | Parameter | Bacteria | Eukaryote |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPAdes | --careful | Yes | Optional |
| SPAdes | -m | 64GB | 256GB+ |
| Flye | --genome-size | 5m | Species-specific |
| Flye | --meta | If metagenome | No |
| BUSCO | -l | bacteria_odb10 | eukaryota_odb10 |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Likely Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Fragmented assembly | Low coverage, repetitive genome | Increase coverage, use long reads |
| Low N50 | Short reads only | Add long reads for scaffolding |
| Low BUSCO | Incomplete assembly, wrong lineage | Check coverage, try different lineage |
| Assembly too large | Contamination, heterozygosity | Filter reads, check for contamination |
Complete Pipeline Script
#!/bin/bash
set -e
THREADS=16
GENOME_SIZE="5m"
LONG_READS="long_reads.fastq.gz"
SHORT_R1="short_R1.fastq.gz"
SHORT_R2="short_R2.fastq.gz"
BUSCO_LINEAGE="bacteria_odb10"
OUTDIR="assembly_results"
mkdir -p ${OUTDIR}/{qc,assembly,polished,quast,busco}
# Step 1: QC
echo "=== QC ==="
NanoPlot --fastq ${LONG_READS} --outdir ${OUTDIR}/qc/nanoplot -t ${THREADS}
fastp -i ${SHORT_R1} -I ${SHORT_R2} \
-o ${OUTDIR}/qc/short_R1.fq.gz -O ${OUTDIR}/qc/short_R2.fq.gz \
--html ${OUTDIR}/qc/fastp.html
# Step 2: Assembly with Flye
echo "=== Assembly ==="
flye --nano-hq ${LONG_READS} \
--out-dir ${OUTDIR}/assembly \
--threads ${THREADS} \
--genome-size ${GENOME_SIZE}
# Step 3: Polish with short reads
echo "=== Polishing ==="
bwa index ${OUTDIR}/assembly/assembly.fasta
bwa mem -t ${THREADS} ${OUTDIR}/assembly/assembly.fasta \
${OUTDIR}/qc/short_R1.fq.gz ${OUTDIR}/qc/short_R2.fq.gz | \
samtools sort -@ 4 -o ${OUTDIR}/polished/aligned.bam
samtools index ${OUTDIR}/polished/aligned.bam
pilon --genome ${OUTDIR}/assembly/assembly.fasta \
--frags ${OUTDIR}/polished/aligned.bam \
--output ${OUTDIR}/polished/final \
--threads ${THREADS}
# Step 4: QC
echo "=== Quality Assessment ==="
quast.py ${OUTDIR}/polished/final.fasta -o ${OUTDIR}/quast -t ${THREADS}
busco -i ${OUTDIR}/polished/final.fasta -l ${BUSCO_LINEAGE} \
-o busco -m genome -c ${THREADS} --out_path ${OUTDIR}
echo "=== Assembly Complete ==="
echo "Final assembly: ${OUTDIR}/polished/final.fasta"
cat ${OUTDIR}/quast/report.txt
Related Skills
- genome-assembly/short-read-assembly - SPAdes details
- genome-assembly/long-read-assembly - Flye, Canu, Hifiasm
- genome-assembly/assembly-polishing - Pilon, medaka, Racon
- genome-assembly/assembly-qc - QUAST, BUSCO metrics
Recommended Agent Skills
Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.
agent-ops-spec
Manage specification documents in .agent/specs/. Use when user provides requirements, acceptance criteria, or feature descriptions that need to be tracked and validated against implementation.
agent-ops-state
Maintain .agent state files. Use at session start, after meaningful steps, and before concluding: read/update constitution/memory/focus/issues/baseline consistently.
agent-ops-spec
Manage specification documents in .agent/specs/. Use when user provides requirements, acceptance criteria, or feature descriptions that need to be tracked and validated against implementation.
agent-ops-testing
Test strategy, execution, and coverage analysis. Use when designing tests, running test suites, or analyzing test results beyond baseline checks.
agent-ops-testing
Test strategy, execution, and coverage analysis. Use when designing tests, running test suites, or analyzing test results beyond baseline checks.
agent-ops-state
Maintain .agent state files. Use at session start, after meaningful steps, and before concluding: read/update constitution/memory/focus/issues/baseline consistently.
Didn't find tool you were looking for?