FHiTINGS

FHiTINGS processes fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) next-generation sequencing (NGS) data to assign taxonomic identifications and summarize biodiversity metrics.

Key Features:

• Integration with BLASTn: Consumes BLASTn output to identify and parse ITS sequences using sequence alignment results.
• Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) Approach: Implements the LCA algorithm to assign a single taxonomic identification per sequence based on BLASTn hits.
• Taxonomic Classification: Assigns taxonomic ranks from species to kingdom using Index Fungorum as the reference database.
• Data Summarization and Sorting: Generates tabular summaries of sequence data enabling calculation of sample diversity metrics such as α-diversity and richness.
• Efficiency and Consistency: In silico testing reported reduction of analysis time for 1,000 sequences from over two hours (manual sorting) to under one minute computationally while maintaining consistency with manual classifications.

Scientific Applications:

• Fungal ecology and biodiversity: Enables analysis of species diversity and community composition from ITS NGS datasets to support biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics studies.
• Sequencing platform compatibility: Applicable to ITS datasets generated by sequencing platforms including 454 pyrosequencing for taxonomic profiling and diversity assessment.

Methodology:

Processes BLASTn output, applies the Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) method to BLAST results, assigns taxonomic ranks using Index Fungorum, and summarizes results into tabular format to enable calculation of α-diversity and richness.