Blast Stylesheet

Question

[Yann]

I'd like to create an HTML file (from the XML file and XSL stylesheet) similar to what It can be achieved when we performed a BLAST search on the NCBI server. What is the use of this file (xml) is the most appropriate or should i use another kind of out of blast (ASN. ...), and are there any examples of such a XSL file to format .

Answer 1

[Pierre Lindenbaum]

Update: I wrote the XSLT stylesheet. It is available on github.

Example: The XML:

(..)
<Hit>
  <Hit_num>2</Hit_num>
  <Hit_id>gi|27881483|ref|NM_017590.4|</Hit_id>
  <Hit_def>Homo sapiens zinc finger CCCH-type containing 7B (ZC3H7B), mRNA</Hit_def>
  <Hit_accession>NM_017590</Hit_accession>
  <Hit_len>5868</Hit_len>
  <Hit_hsps>
    <Hsp>
      <Hsp_num>1</Hsp_num>
      <Hsp_bit-score>114.899</Hsp_bit-score>
      <Hsp_score>126</Hsp_score>
      <Hsp_evalue>1.2149e-23</Hsp_evalue>
      <Hsp_query-from>896</Hsp_query-from>
      <Hsp_query-to>1302</Hsp_query-to>
      <Hsp_hit-from>2927</Hsp_hit-from>
      <Hsp_hit-to>2518</Hsp_hit-to>
      <Hsp_query-frame>1</Hsp_query-frame>
      <Hsp_hit-frame>-1</Hsp_hit-frame>
      <Hsp_identity>280</Hsp_identity>
      <Hsp_positive>280</Hsp_positive>
      <Hsp_gaps>17</Hsp_gaps>
      <Hsp_align-len>417</Hsp_align-len>
      <Hsp_qseq>CCTTCTGGGCAGG---TGCCATTCATATACCTATCACAAATACTGAAATAGCCTGTTGGGAAGCGGTGCTGCCAGCAGTACTGGTCGTCC---TCGGTGTGGAAAAC
CTTCTCTTTGTGCTTCTCGGAGGAGATGTGGCCCTGCCACTGCTTCTCACTGTTGCAGTTTTTCCCACACATCCAGCAGTGAAAGTCCACTGTAACTTCAGCATAATCTGTTGGCATGTGAAT
TTG-TTTTCCATTTTCCTTGTTTGACTGACTGGCTAT---GTCTTCACTTTTTTCATTTTTTTGACTCTTGAGCCATAGTTCGTAAAATTGCTCCATATCTTGTATCCCATTCTCCTTCATGT
AAGTCCAAACTTCTCTTTCCTCAGGACTATGAGCAAAGGAACAGTTTCCAACATATTGACATTT</Hsp_qseq>
      <Hsp_hseq>CCATCTGGGCAGGCTTTGCCCTTCTGGAGCCTGTCGCAGAGCCGGAACTCGCCCATGGGGAAGCGGAAGGCCCAGCCG--CTGG-CGTCACTGTCGGACGTGAAGAC
CTTCTCCTTGTGCTTCTCGGACTGGATGTGCTGCTGCCACTGCTTCTTGCTGTTGCTGTTCTTGCCGCAGAGCCAGCAGTGGTAGCCCATCATGATGTCCGCGTAGTCCGTGGGCATCTGGAT
CTGCTTCTCCCCTTCCCGAG---AACTGA-TGGGGGTCCCTTCTCCAGGCTTTCCTGGGTTGTGTTTTTTCAGCCACATGTCATAGGTCTGCTGCATGTCCAGGATCTTGTTCTCCTTCATGA
AGGTCCACATGTCCCTCTCCTCCGGGCTGTGTGCGAAGGAGCAGTTCCCCACATATTGGCACTT</Hsp_hseq>
      <Hsp_midline>|| ||||||||||   |||| |||     ||| || || |  | ||| | |||  | |||||||||     ||||| |  |||| ||||    ||||    |||
 |||||||| ||||||||||||||   ||||||   ||||||||||||||  ||||||| ||| || || || | |||||||||  || |||   | |  || || || || || ||||| ||
 || || || |||  || ||  |    ||||| |||   |    ||| ||   ||| |    || ||  | || ||||| |  || ||    |||| ||| ||  | |||   ||||||||||
|| | ||||| |  || || ||||| || || || || ||||| ||||| || |||||||| || ||</Hsp_midline>
    </Hsp>
  </Hit_hsps>
(...)

Run the stylesheet:

xsltproc --novalid blast2html.xsl blast.xml

Result:

(...)
>gi|27881483|ref|NM_017590.4||NM_017590|Homo sapiens zinc finger CCCH-type containing 7B (ZC3H7B), mRNA
Length=5868
Score = 114.899 bits (126), Expect = 1.2149e-23
Identities = 280/417 (67.1462829736211%), Gaps = 17/417 (4.07673860911271%)
Strand = Plus/Minus

Query 896      CCTTCTGGGCAGG---TGCCATTCATATACCTATCACAAATACTGAAATAGCCTGTTGGG 952
               || ||||||||||   |||| |||     ||| || || |  | ||| | |||  | |||
Sbjct 2927     CCATCTGGGCAGGCTTTGCCCTTCTGGAGCCTGTCGCAGAGCCGGAACTCGCCCATGGGG 2868

Query 953      AAGCGGTGCTGCCAGCAGTACTGGTCGTCC---TCGGTGTGGAAAACCTTCTCTTTGTGC 1009
               ||||||     ||||| |  |||| ||||    ||||    ||| |||||||| ||||||
Sbjct 2867     AAGCGGAAGGCCCAGCCG--CTGG-CGTCACTGTCGGACGTGAAGACCTTCTCCTTGTGC 2811

Query 1010     TTCTCGGAGGAGATGTGGCCCTGCCACTGCTTCTCACTGTTGCAGTTTTTCCCACACATC 1069
               ||||||||   ||||||   ||||||||||||||  ||||||| ||| || || || | |
Sbjct 2810     TTCTCGGACTGGATGTGCTGCTGCCACTGCTTCTTGCTGTTGCTGTTCTTGCCGCAGAGC 2751

Query 1070     CAGCAGTGAAAGTCCACTGTAACTTCAGCATAATCTGTTGGCATGTGAATTTG-TTTTCC 1128
               ||||||||  || |||   | |  || || || || || ||||| || || || || |||
Sbjct 2750     CAGCAGTGGTAGCCCATCATGATGTCCGCGTAGTCCGTGGGCATCTGGATCTGCTTCTCC 2691

Query 1129     ATTTTCCTTGTTTGACTGACTGGCTAT---GTCTTCACTTTTTTCATTTTTTTGACTCTT 1185
                 || ||  |    ||||| |||   |    ||| ||   ||| |    || ||  | ||
Sbjct 2690     CCTTCCCGAG---AACTGA-TGGGGGTCCCTTCTCCAGGCTTTCCTGGGTTGTGTTTTTT 2635

Query 1186     GAGCCATAGTTCGTAAAATTGCTCCATATCTTGTATCCCATTCTCCTTCATGTAAGTCCA 1245
                ||||| |  || ||    |||| ||| ||  | |||   |||||||||||| | |||||
Sbjct 2634     CAGCCACATGTCATAGGTCTGCTGCATGTCCAGGATCTTGTTCTCCTTCATGAAGGTCCA 2575

Query 1246     AACTTCTCTTTCCTCAGGACTATGAGCAAAGGAACAGTTTCCAACATATTGACATTT 1302
                |  || || ||||| || || || || ||||| ||||| || |||||||| || ||
Sbjct 2574     CATGTCCCTCTCCTCCGGGCTGTGTGCGAAGGAGCAGTTCCCCACATATTGGCACTT 2518
(...)

I wrote a stylesheet to display the blast output as SVG+XHTML. Transforming to XHTML should be even easier. See my post.

or a quick search in google returned this page

[Pierre Lindenbaum]

why did I get a downvote ? :-)

[Frédéric Bigey]

Many thanks Pierre

[sfcarroll]

Hi Pierre,

This looks like an excellent xsl ... does it still work? I tried running the command you detailed against a blastn xml and it is returning many errors.

Many thanks,

Sean

[sfcarroll]

For example (below). Any pointers would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much, Sean

blast2svg.xsl:128: parser error : Opening and ending tag mismatch: link line 54 and head
</head>
       ^
blast2svg.xsl:182: parser error : Specification mandate value for attribute itemscope
 itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork">
           ^
blast2svg.xsl:182: parser error : attributes construct error
 itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork">
           ^
blast2svg.xsl:182: parser error : Couldn't find end of Start Tag table line 181

[sfcarroll]

OK I found a newer version in your Github repo: https://github.com/lindenb/xslt-sandbox

It works a with some issues on Firefox ... Chrome just renders text.

Thanks you.

Answer 2

[Pablo Pareja]

Hi all,

I implemented some time ago several Java XML wrapper classes for dealing with XML output from Blast.

They are available in this GitHub repository, (this project also includes many other general bioinformatics related XML wrappers).

These are some of the elements modelled:

• Hit
• Hsp
• Iteration
• BlastOutput

Hope this can be useful.

Cheers,
Pablo