sokrypton / sokrypton/ColabFold

k-mers and minimum recommended sequence length

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Description

Hi!

I am trying to learn what is the minimum amino acid sequence length to run a ColabFold prediction using MMSeq2 for the MSA. I have seen responses that say that MMseqs2 uses k-mer of 6, therefore the minimum length of a hit can be 13 for the gapped and 12 for the ungapped. Also, I've seen responses saying that MMseq2 struggles with sequences <20 aminoacids.

Could you please be so kind an clear out this for me and let me know what are the steps/settings/arguments that specify those limits? For example, does ColabFold when using MMseq2 to run MSAs on the server / locally after constructing the databases use a default k-mer and what is the default k-mer? I am sorry if this question is trivial, but I was not able to find a clear specification.

Are there any tests showing performance over length or it based on experience?

Thank you very much!

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Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Begin by locating ColabFold's MMseqs2 configuration and comparing its defaults with MMseqs2 documentation; done means documenting the relevant k-mer, sequence-length limits, settings, and any available performance evidence.

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Assessment

Domain
bioinformatics
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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