This article describes the steps necessary to prepare your reference file (if it's not one that you got from us). As a complement to this article, see the relevant tutorial.
Why these steps are necessary
The GATK uses two files to access and safety check access to the reference files: a .dict dictionary of the contig names and sizes and a .fai fasta index file to allow efficient random access to the reference bases. You have to generate these files in order to be able to use a Fasta file as reference.
NOTE: Picard and samtools treat spaces in contig names differently. We recommend that you avoid using spaces in contig names.
Creating the fasta sequence dictionary file
We use CreateSequenceDictionary.jar from Picard to create a .dict file from a fasta file.
> java -jar CreateSequenceDictionary.jar R= Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta O= Homo_sapiens_assembly18.dict
[Fri Jun 19 14:09:11 EDT 2009] net.sf.picard.sam.CreateSequenceDictionary R= Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta O= Homo_sapiens_assembly18.dict
[Fri Jun 19 14:09:58 EDT 2009] net.sf.picard.sam.CreateSequenceDictionary done.
Runtime.totalMemory()=2112487424
44.922u 2.308s 0:47.09 100.2% 0+0k 0+0io 2pf+0w
This produces a SAM-style header file describing the contents of our fasta file.
> cat Homo_sapiens_assembly18.dict
@HD VN:1.0 SO:unsorted
@SQ SN:chrM LN:16571 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:d2ed829b8a1628d16cbeee88e88e39eb
@SQ SN:chr1 LN:247249719 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:9ebc6df9496613f373e73396d5b3b6b6
@SQ SN:chr2 LN:242951149 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:b12c7373e3882120332983be99aeb18d
@SQ SN:chr3 LN:199501827 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:0e48ed7f305877f66e6fd4addbae2b9a
@SQ SN:chr4 LN:191273063 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:cf37020337904229dca8401907b626c2
@SQ SN:chr5 LN:180857866 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:031c851664e31b2c17337fd6f9004858
@SQ SN:chr6 LN:170899992 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:bfe8005c536131276d448ead33f1b583
@SQ SN:chr7 LN:158821424 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:74239c5ceee3b28f0038123d958114cb
@SQ SN:chr8 LN:146274826 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:1eb00fe1ce26ce6701d2cd75c35b5ccb
@SQ SN:chr9 LN:140273252 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:ea244473e525dde0393d353ef94f974b
@SQ SN:chr10 LN:135374737 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:4ca41bf2d7d33578d2cd7ee9411e1533
@SQ SN:chr11 LN:134452384 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:425ba5eb6c95b60bafbf2874493a56c3
@SQ SN:chr12 LN:132349534 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:d17d70060c56b4578fa570117bf19716
@SQ SN:chr13 LN:114142980 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:c4f3084a20380a373bbbdb9ae30da587
@SQ SN:chr14 LN:106368585 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:c1ff5d44683831e9c7c1db23f93fbb45
@SQ SN:chr15 LN:100338915 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:5cd9622c459fe0a276b27f6ac06116d8
@SQ SN:chr16 LN:88827254 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:3e81884229e8dc6b7f258169ec8da246
@SQ SN:chr17 LN:78774742 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:2a5c95ed99c5298bb107f313c7044588
@SQ SN:chr18 LN:76117153 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:3d11df432bcdc1407835d5ef2ce62634
@SQ SN:chr19 LN:63811651 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:2f1a59077cfad51df907ac25723bff28
@SQ SN:chr20 LN:62435964 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:f126cdf8a6e0c7f379d618ff66beb2da
@SQ SN:chr21 LN:46944323 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:f1b74b7f9f4cdbaeb6832ee86cb426c6
@SQ SN:chr22 LN:49691432 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:2041e6a0c914b48dd537922cca63acb8
@SQ SN:chrX LN:154913754 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:d7e626c80ad172a4d7c95aadb94d9040
@SQ SN:chrY LN:57772954 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:62f69d0e82a12af74bad85e2e4a8bd91
@SQ SN:chr1_random LN:1663265 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:cc05cb1554258add2eb62e88c0746394
@SQ SN:chr2_random LN:185571 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:18ceab9e4667a25c8a1f67869a4356ea
@SQ SN:chr3_random LN:749256 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:9cc571e918ac18afa0b2053262cadab6
@SQ SN:chr4_random LN:842648 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:9cab2949ccf26ee0f69a875412c93740
@SQ SN:chr5_random LN:143687 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:05926bdbff978d4a0906862eb3f773d0
@SQ SN:chr6_random LN:1875562 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:d62eb2919ba7b9c1d382c011c5218094
@SQ SN:chr7_random LN:549659 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:28ebfb89c858edbc4d71ff3f83d52231
@SQ SN:chr8_random LN:943810 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:0ed5b088d843d6f6e6b181465b9e82ed
@SQ SN:chr9_random LN:1146434 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:1e3d2d2f141f0550fa28a8d0ed3fd1cf
@SQ SN:chr10_random LN:113275 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:50be2d2c6720dabeff497ffb53189daa
@SQ SN:chr11_random LN:215294 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:bfc93adc30c621d5c83eee3f0d841624
@SQ SN:chr13_random LN:186858 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:563531689f3dbd691331fd6c5730a88b
@SQ SN:chr15_random LN:784346 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:bf885e99940d2d439d83eba791804a48
@SQ SN:chr16_random LN:105485 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:dd06ea813a80b59d9c626b31faf6ae7f
@SQ SN:chr17_random LN:2617613 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:34d5e2005dffdfaaced1d34f60ed8fc2
@SQ SN:chr18_random LN:4262 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:f3814841f1939d3ca19072d9e89f3fd7
@SQ SN:chr19_random LN:301858 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:420ce95da035386cc8c63094288c49e2
@SQ SN:chr21_random LN:1679693 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:a7252115bfe5bb5525f34d039eecd096
@SQ SN:chr22_random LN:257318 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:4f2d259b82f7647d3b668063cf18378b
@SQ SN:chrX_random LN:1719168 UR:file:/humgen/gsa-scr1/depristo/dev/GenomeAnalysisTK/trunk/Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta M5:f4d71e0758986c15e5455bf3e14e5d6f
Creating the fasta index file
We use the faidx command in samtools to prepare the fasta index file. This file describes byte offsets in the fasta file for each contig, allowing us to compute exactly where a particular reference base at contig:pos is in the fasta file.
> samtools faidx Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta
108.446u 3.384s 2:44.61 67.9% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w
This produces a text file with one record per line for each of the fasta contigs. Each record is of the: contig, size, location, basesPerLine, bytesPerLine. The index file produced above looks like:
> cat Homo_sapiens_assembly18.fasta.fai
chrM 16571 6 50 51
chr1 247249719 16915 50 51
chr2 242951149 252211635 50 51
chr3 199501827 500021813 50 51
chr4 191273063 703513683 50 51
chr5 180857866 898612214 50 51
chr6 170899992 1083087244 50 51
chr7 158821424 1257405242 50 51
chr8 146274826 1419403101 50 51
chr9 140273252 1568603430 50 51
chr10 135374737 1711682155 50 51
chr11 134452384 1849764394 50 51
chr12 132349534 1986905833 50 51
chr13 114142980 2121902365 50 51
chr14 106368585 2238328212 50 51
chr15 100338915 2346824176 50 51
chr16 88827254 2449169877 50 51
chr17 78774742 2539773684 50 51
chr18 76117153 2620123928 50 51
chr19 63811651 2697763432 50 51
chr20 62435964 2762851324 50 51
chr21 46944323 2826536015 50 51
chr22 49691432 2874419232 50 51
chrX 154913754 2925104499 50 51
chrY 57772954 3083116535 50 51
chr1_random 1663265 3142044962 50 51
chr2_random 185571 3143741506 50 51
chr3_random 749256 3143930802 50 51
chr4_random 842648 3144695057 50 51
chr5_random 143687 3145554571 50 51
chr6_random 1875562 3145701145 50 51
chr7_random 549659 3147614232 50 51
chr8_random 943810 3148174898 50 51
chr9_random 1146434 3149137598 50 51
chr10_random 113275 3150306975 50 51
chr11_random 215294 3150422530 50 51
chr13_random 186858 3150642144 50 51
chr15_random 784346 3150832754 50 51
chr16_random 105485 3151632801 50 51
chr17_random 2617613 3151740410 50 51
chr18_random 4262 3154410390 50 51
chr19_random 301858 3154414752 50 51
chr21_random 1679693 3154722662 50 51
chr22_random 257318 3156435963 50 51
chrX_random 1719168 3156698441 50 51