Preparing a Trace Archive

Traces are the raw DNA sequqence data (chromatograms), base calls, and quality estimates for single-pass reads from large-scale sequencing projects. They are are maintained in the NCBI permanent repository, Trace Archive, and are linked to their respective records in GenBank through Entrez.

Barcode accepts traces as compressed archives accompanied by a Trace Information File which describes the traces in the archive.

The trace archive can be created in two ways, as a g-zipped tar archive or as a zip archive.

Organizing the Files

Create a new directory (folder) named traces containing all the traces for this submission.

Archiving with Tar, compressing with gzip

This is the standard method for archiving and compressing trace files. This method can be used with the Barcode Submission Tool or for sending traces directly to the Trace Archive.

1. Use a tar utility to archive the traces directory.
2. Use a gzip utility to compress the archive from Step 1.

Archiving and compressing with zip

This method for archiving and compressing files is simpler, but should only be used when traces are submitted through the Barcode Submission Tool.

1. Use a zip utility to archive and compress the traces directory.