TY - JOUR T1 - Neptune: A Tool for Rapid Genomic Signature Discovery JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/032227 SP - 032227 AU - Eric Marinier AU - Chrystal Berry AU - Kelly Weedmark AU - Michael Domaratzki AU - Phillip Mabon AU - Natalie Knox AU - Aleisha Reimer AU - Morag Graham AU - The Canadian Listeria Detection and Surveillance using Next Generation Genomics (LiDS-NG) Consortium AU - Gary Van Domselaar Y1 - 2015/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/11/18/032227.abstract N2 - Neptune locates genomic signatures using an exact k-mer matching strategy while accommodating k-mer mismatches. The software identifies sequences that are sufficiently represented within inclusion targets and sufficiently absent from exclusion targets. The signature discovery process is accomplished using probabilistic models instead of heuristic strategies. We have evaluated Neptune on Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli data sets and found that signatures identified from these experiments are highly sensitive and specific to their respective data sets. Neptune has broad implications in bacterial characterization for public health applications due to its efficient signature discovery based upon differential genomics. In addition, the identified loci may also provide a source material for research leading to investigations of group-specific traits. ER -