| name | bio-assembly-qc |
| description | Assemble genomes/metagenomes and produce assembly QC artifacts. |
Bio Assembly QC
Assemble genomes/metagenomes and produce assembly QC artifacts.
Instructions
- Select an assembler based on read type, genome/metagenome scope, and sample diversity:
- Illumina short-read isolates and hybrid assemblies: SPAdes v4.0.0+ (final feature release; bug-fix-only series continues). Use
metaSPAdes for short-read metagenomes.
- Long-read isolates (PacBio CLR, ONT): Flye v2.9.5+.
- Long-read metagenomes: Flye v2.9.5+ in
--meta mode (metaFlye) as the baseline.
- HiFi metagenomes: prefer metaMDBG v1.1 (~2× more circularized high-quality MAGs vs metaFlye on HiFi, better virus/plasmid recovery; Nature Biotechnology 2024, DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01983-6). Keep metaFlye as a comparator when a per-sample failure mode is suspected.
- Diverse or very large long-read datasets where speed dominates: myloasm (2025) as a faster long-read metagenome assembler when its profile matches the dataset; document the choice in the run log.
- Run assembly with resource-aware settings and record exact CLI, version, thread count, and RAM ceiling.
- Run QUAST v5.3+ (use MetaQUAST for metagenomes) and summarize metrics.
- For every produced
contigs.fasta, invoke /tracking-taxonomy-updates to run the BBTools-container QuickClade percontig domain screen before choosing downstream genome/MAG/viral/eukaryotic workflows.
- Use the QuickClade domain routing table to decide the next step:
- Bacteria/Archaea ->
/bio-gene-calling, /bio-annotation, and GTDB-Tk taxonomy assignment.
- Viral or virus-like ->
/bio-viromics before prokaryotic MAG tooling.
- Eukaryota -> eukaryote-aware gene/QC workflows and EukCC where bins or genomes are present.
- Mixed/low-confidence -> split or flag contigs before domain-specific analysis.
Quick Reference
| Task | Action |
|---|
| Run workflow | Follow the steps in this skill and capture outputs. |
| Validate inputs | Confirm required inputs and reference data exist. |
| Review outputs | Inspect reports and QC gates before proceeding. |
| Tool docs | See docs/README.md. |
Input Requirements
Prerequisites:
- Tools available in the active environment (Pixi/conda/system). See
docs/README.md for expected tools.
- Sufficient disk and RAM for chosen assembler.
Inputs:
- reads/*.fastq.gz (raw reads).
- assembler choice (spades | flye | metamdbg | myloasm).
Output
- results/bio-assembly-qc/contigs.fasta
- results/bio-assembly-qc/assembly_metrics.tsv
- results/bio-assembly-qc/domain_routing.tsv
- results/bio-assembly-qc/qc_report.html
- results/bio-assembly-qc/logs/
Quality Gates
Examples
Example 1: Expected input layout
reads/*.fastq.gz (raw reads).
assembler choice (spades | flye).
Troubleshooting
Issue: Missing inputs or reference databases
Solution: Verify paths and permissions before running the workflow.
Issue: Low-quality results or failed QC gates
Solution: Review reports, adjust parameters, and re-run the affected step.