THOR: targeted high-throughput ortholog reconstructor

Abstract
Summary: Low-coverage genomes (LCGs) are becoming an increasingly important source of data for phylogenetic studies. However, assembly of these genomes is time consuming, difficult and lags behind sequence generation. THOR is a fast, stringent application for targeted reconstruction of sequence orthologs in unassembled LCGs. Using a 4× coverage set of mouse whole-genome sequence reads, THOR could partially or completely reconstruct 416/1000 human promoter ortholog regions in ∼7.3 min/promoter. THOR's reconstruction rate improves markedly with both higher-coverage, and less divergent target species. Availability: THOR is implemented in java and is currently available as source code and as a web service (www.bcgsc.ca/services/thor) for reconstructing human sequences. Contact: matthewb@bcgsc.ca