vdjdb-harmonize

name	vdjdb-harmonize
description	Harmonize antigen.gene and antigen.species fields in a VDJdb chunk to canonical VDJdb naming. Detects spurious gene/species names, resolves inconsistencies (same epitope → multiple names), and warns about epitopes that are exact substrings of longer epitopes. Invoked standalone or from /proofread when spurious values are detected.

/harmonize — VDJdb Antigen Gene/Species Harmonization Skill

Purpose

Normalize antigen.gene and antigen.species values in a chunk to the VDJdb canonical vocabulary. This skill uses a unified, layered lookup system drawing from two patch sources:

• patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict — epitope-keyed authority: maps known epitopes directly to their canonical species + gene. This is the highest-confidence source.
• proofreading/gene_aliases.tsv — free-text gene name aliases → VDJdb gene name.
• proofreading/species_aliases.tsv — species substring fragments → VDJdb species name. Checked in order; first match wins.

Invocation

/harmonize [path-to-tsv]

Or called automatically from /proofread (Step 6a) when spurious antigen fields are detected.

---

Step 1 — Load Lookup Tables

Load all three sources at the start of the session:

import csv, re

# 1a. Epitope → (species, gene) from patches/
epitope_dict = {}  # {epitope: (species, gene)}
with open('patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict') as f:
    reader = csv.DictReader(f, delimiter='\t')
    for row in reader:
        ep = row['antigen.epitope'].strip()
        epitope_dict[ep] = (row['antigen.species'].strip(), row['antigen.gene'].strip())

# 1b. Gene alias table
gene_map = {}  # {raw_name: canonical}
with open('proofreading/gene_aliases.tsv') as f:
    for line in f:
        line = line.strip()
        if not line or line.startswith('#'): continue
        parts = line.split('\t')
        if len(parts) >= 2 and parts[0] not in ('source_name', 'vdjdb_name'):
            gene_map[parts[0].strip()] = parts[1].strip()

# 1c. Species fragment list (order-sensitive)
species_fragments = []  # [(fragment_lower, canonical), ...]
with open('proofreading/species_aliases.tsv') as f:
    for line in f:
        line = line.strip()
        if not line or line.startswith('#'): continue
        parts = line.split('\t')
        if len(parts) >= 2 and parts[0] != 'fragment':
            species_fragments.append((parts[0].strip().lower(), parts[1].strip()))

---

Step 2 — Harmonization Functions

Use this unified pipeline for every row:

GENE_STRIP_SUFFIXES = (' protein', ' glycoprotein', ' polyprotein', ' precursor')

def harmonize_gene(raw: str) -> str:
    """Map raw antigen.gene to VDJdb canonical name."""
    if not raw:
        return raw
    # Strip embedded [species] annotation (e.g. "pp65 [CMV]")
    s = re.sub(r'\s*\[[^\]]+\]\s*$', '', raw).strip()
    # Exact match
    if s in gene_map:
        return gene_map[s]
    # Strip common trailing suffixes and retry
    for suffix in GENE_STRIP_SUFFIXES:
        if s.lower().endswith(suffix) and len(s) > len(suffix):
            stripped = s[:-len(suffix)].strip()
            if stripped in gene_map:
                return gene_map[stripped]
            if len(stripped) >= 2:
                return stripped   # cleaned fallback
    return s

def harmonize_species(raw: str) -> str:
    """Map raw antigen.species to VDJdb canonical name via substring fragments."""
    if not raw:
        return raw
    low = raw.lower()
     fragment, canonical  species_fragments:
         fragment  low:
             canonical
     raw  

 () -> :
    
    ep = row.get(, ).strip()

    
     ep  epitope_dict:
        canon_species, canon_gene = epitope_dict[ep]
        row[] = canon_species
        row[] = canon_gene
         row

    
    raw_gene = row.get(, ).strip()
    raw_species = row.get(, ).strip()
    new_gene = harmonize_gene(raw_gene)
    new_species = harmonize_species(raw_species)

     new_gene != raw_gene:
        row[] = new_gene
     new_species != raw_species:
        row[] = new_species

     row

---

Step 3 — Detect Spurious Values

Before harmonizing, scan the chunk and flag any rows where antigen.gene or antigen.species looks suspicious. These are the patterns that trigger automatic /harmonize invocation from /proofread:

3a. Spurious antigen.gene indicators

Pattern	Example	Action
Contains [...] species annotation	pp65 [CMV]	Strip annotation, re-lookup
Ends with protein, glycoprotein, polyprotein, precursor	Spike glycoprotein	Strip suffix, canonical lookup
Starts with Probable , Putative , Chain [A-Z], , MULTISPECIES:	Probable ATP-dependent RNA helicase DDX5	Strip prefix, canonical lookup
Length > 25 characters	RNA-directed RNA polymerase catalytic subunit	Alias lookup; convert to HGNC symbol or abbreviation
Contains , (comma)	Sterol-4-alpha-carboxylate 3-dehydrogenase, decarboxylating	Full description — look up in proofreading/gene_aliases.tsv, convert to gene symbol
Contains spaces AND is not a known multi-word canonical name	Nucleoprotein M1	Flag for manual review
Matches Polyprotein or polyprotein exactly		Flag — epitopes from polyprotein should have specific gene assigned; look up by epitope in dict
Null / empty		Flag no.antigen.gene

VDJdb gene naming conventions:

• Human/mouse genes: HGNC uppercase symbol (e.g., PABPC1, SMC1A, COL18A1)
• Viral genes: use established short names from literature (e.g., pp65, BMLF1, Gag, Pol, Tax)
• Bacterial/parasitic genes: use standard gene symbol or protein abbreviation (e.g., glnA, GRA6, yeiH)
• Avoid: full UniProt protein descriptions, parenthetical qualifiers, Chain [X], prefixes from PDB entries
• Special cases: P protein (HBV) → Pol; LCMV Gp33(variant) → GPC; MULTISPECIES: prefix → strip prefix then look up

KNOWN_MULTIWORD_GENES = {'PB1-F2', 'non-structural', 'Large T antigen', 'HLA-DRB1',
                          'HLA-DQB1', 'HLA-DPB1', 'NY-ESO-1', 'CORT_0A05310'}  # extend as needed

def is_spurious_gene(gene: str) -> bool:
    if not gene: return True
    if re.search(r'\[.+\]', gene): return True
    if any(gene.lower().endswith(s) for s in GENE_STRIP_SUFFIXES): return True
    if len(gene) > 30 and gene not in KNOWN_MULTIWORD_GENES: return True
    if gene.lower() in ('polyprotein', 'unknown', 'na', 'n/a'): return True
    return False

3b. Spurious antigen.species indicators

Pattern	Example	Action
Contains full scientific name with spaces	Human herpesvirus 4	Fragment match lookup in proofreading/species_aliases.tsv
Contains parenthetical common name	Columba livia (carrier pigeon)	Strip parens, apply CamelCase: ColumbaLivia
Known alias variants	HIV, HTLV, Influenza, IAV	Map to canonical
Capitalization mismatch	Epstein barr virus, influenzaA	Normalise
Not in known canonical set	anything not in the list below	Flag for review

VDJdb species naming conventions:

• Two-word binomial names → CamelCase with no space: Homo sapiens → HomoSapiens, Bacillus subtilis → BacillusSubtilis
• Common abbreviations for well-known pathogens: EBV, CMV, HIV-1, SARS-CoV-2, InfluenzaA, etc.
• Strip parenthetical common names and former names: Columba livia (carrier pigeon) → ColumbaLivia; Schinkia azotoformans (Bacillus azotiformans) → SchinkiaAzotoformans
• Genus-only entries (when species is unknown): keep as single CamelCase word: Bacillus [genus] → Bacillus
• PseudomonasFluorescens, PseudomonasAeruginosa — already CamelCase but missing space between genus and species (both are acceptable as-is if already in database)

Known canonical antigen.species values (derive from existing chunks):

EBV, CMV, MCMV, HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, InfluenzaA, InfluenzaB, SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV,
HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, HIV-1, HCV, HBV, YFV, DENV, DENV1, DENV2, DENV3, DENV3/4,
LCMV, HTLV-1, MLV, RSV, MCPyV, HomoSapiens, MusMusculus, RattusNorvegicus,
MacacaMulatta, GallusGallus, M.tuberculosis, PlasmodiumFalciparum, PlasmodiumBerghei,
Trypanosoma cruzi, SIV, CoxsackievirusB, Wheat, ManducaSexta

CANONICAL_SPECIES = {
    'EBV', 'CMV', 'MCMV', 'HSV-1', 'HSV-2', 'VZV', 'InfluenzaA', 'InfluenzaB',
    'SARS-CoV-2', 'SARS-CoV', 'HCoV-OC43', 'HCoV-HKU1', 'HIV-1', 'HCV', 'HBV',
    'YFV', 'DENV', 'DENV1', 'DENV2', 'DENV3', 'DENV3/4', 'LCMV', 'HTLV-1',
    'MLV', 'RSV', 'MCPyV', 'HomoSapiens', 'MusMusculus', 'RattusNorvegicus',
    'MacacaMulatta', 'GallusGallus', 'M.tuberculosis', 'PlasmodiumFalciparum',
    'PlasmodiumBerghei', 'Trypanosoma cruzi', 'SIV', 'CoxsackievirusB',
    'Wheat', 'ManducaSexta',
}

def is_spurious_species(species: str) -> bool:
    if not species: return True
    if species in CANONICAL_SPECIES: return False
    if   species:     
       

---

Step 4 — Cross-Chunk Consistency Check

After harmonizing individual rows, check for same-epitope inconsistencies across the chunk (and optionally across all of chunks/):

from collections import defaultdict

def check_consistency(rows: list[dict]) -> list[str]:
    warnings = []
    ep_genes = defaultdict(set)
    ep_species = defaultdict(set)
    for r in rows:
        ep = r.get('antigen.epitope', '').strip()
        g = r.get('antigen.gene', '').strip()
        s = r.get('antigen.species', '').strip()
        if ep:
            if g: ep_genes[ep].add(g)
            if s: ep_species[ep].add(s)
    for ep, genes in ep_genes.items():
        if len(genes) > 1:
            warnings.append(f'INCONSISTENT antigen.gene for epitope {ep!r}: {genes} — check patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict')
    for ep, sps in ep_species.items():
        if len(sps) > 1:
            warnings.append(f'INCONSISTENT antigen.species for epitope {ep!r}: {sps} — check patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict')
    return warnings

If the epitope dict has a definitive entry, the inconsistency will be resolved by Step 2. Report remaining inconsistencies (those the dict does not cover) for manual curation.

---

Step 5 — Epitope Substring Warning

Check whether any epitope in the chunk is an exact substring of a longer epitope in the same chunk, or in the global VDJdb database. This detects truncation artefacts (e.g., EPLPQGQLTAY being a substring of GPEPLPQGQLTAY).

def check_epitope_substrings(rows: list[dict], global_epitopes: set[str] = None) -> list[str]:
    """
    Warn when epitope A is an exact substring of longer epitope B.
    Checks within the chunk and against global_epitopes if provided.
    """
    warnings = []
    chunk_epitopes = {r.get('antigen.epitope', '').strip() for r in rows if r.get('antigen.epitope')}
    all_epitopes = chunk_epitopes | (global_epitopes or set())

    for ep in sorted(chunk_epitopes):
        if len(ep) < 4: continue
        for longer in all_epitopes:
            if longer != ep and ep in longer:
                src = 'chunk' if longer in chunk_epitopes else 'global VDJdb'
                warnings.append(
                    f'SUBSTRING WARNING: {ep!r} is contained in longer epitope {longer!r} ({src}) — '
                    f'possible truncation artefact; verify correct epitope boundaries'
                )
    return warnings

To load global VDJdb epitopes for the cross-chunk check:

import glob

def load_global_epitopes() -> set[str]:
    eps = set()
    for f in glob.glob('chunks/*.txt'):
        with open(f) as fh:
            for row in csv.DictReader(fh, delimiter='\t'):
                ep = row.get('antigen.epitope', '').strip()
                if ep: eps.add(ep)
    return eps

---

Step 6 — Apply and Report

Run the full harmonization on the chunk, report all changes and warnings:

def harmonize_chunk(path: str, check_global: bool = True) -> None:
    with open(path) as f:
        rows = list(csv.DictReader(f, delimiter='\t'))
    fieldnames = list(rows[0].keys()) if rows else []

    changes = []
    for i, row in enumerate(rows):
        orig_gene = row.get('antigen.gene', '')
        orig_species = row.get('antigen.species', '')
        row = harmonize_row(row)
        if row['antigen.gene'] != orig_gene:
            changes.append(f'  ROW {row["chunk.id"]}: antigen.gene {orig_gene!r} → {row["antigen.gene"]!r}')
        if row['antigen.species'] != orig_species:
            changes.append(f'  ROW {row["chunk.id"]}: antigen.species {orig_species!r} → {row["antigen.species"]!r}')
        rows[i] = row

    # Consistency check
    consistency_warnings = check_consistency(rows)

    # Substring check
    global_eps = load_global_epitopes() if check_global else None
    substring_warnings = check_epitope_substrings(rows, global_eps)

    # Write back
    with (path, , newline=)  f:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=)
        writer.writeheader()
        writer.writerows(rows)

    
    ()
    ()
    ()
     c  changes: (c)
     consistency_warnings:
        ()
         w  consistency_warnings: ()
     substring_warnings:
        ()
         w  substring_warnings: ()
      changes   consistency_warnings   substring_warnings:
        ()

---

Integration with /proofread

When /proofread is running Step 6 (MHC Consistency) or scanning antigen.gene/antigen.species fields, it should invoke harmonization automatically if any of these are detected:

• is_spurious_gene(row['antigen.gene']) returns True for ≥1 row
• is_spurious_species(row['antigen.species']) returns True for ≥1 row
• check_consistency(rows) returns any warnings

From /proofread Step 6, add:

Step 6a — Antigen Harmonization Trigger

After running ChunkQC, scan all antigen.gene and antigen.species values using the spurious-value detectors from /harmonize. If any are flagged:

1. Report the count and examples to the user.
2. Ask: "Run /harmonize to fix these automatically? [y/n]"
3. If yes: run the full harmonization pipeline, then re-run ChunkQC to verify no regressions.

---

Patch File Maintenance

When harmonization fails for a value (no alias match, no epitope dict entry), add the mapping to the appropriate patch file rather than leaving it unfixed:

• New epitope → species/gene mapping → append to patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict
• New gene alias (free-text → canonical) → append to proofreading/gene_aliases.tsv
• New species fragment (substring → canonical) → append to proofreading/species_aliases.tsv (put more-specific fragments before less-specific ones)

---

Reference Files

File	Role
patches/antigen_epitope_species_gene.dict	Epitope-keyed authority: epitope → (species, gene)
proofreading/gene_aliases.tsv	Free-text gene alias table → VDJdb gene name
proofreading/species_aliases.tsv	Species fragment → VDJdb canonical (order-sensitive)
py_src/ChunkQC.py	Run after harmonization to verify no regressions