Parallelizing microRNA targets

Question

I am trying to look for miRNA targets using a file called Conservedfamily.txt from the Zebrafish target scan fish website. I have written a python program to extract each of the miRNAs which works fine. However, for a big list of microRNAs, I must provide a name every time in line 22 and get one individual output file. I am thinking is there any option to parallelize the process so that somehow, I can provide a list of all microRNAs and obtain all my targets at the same time. The python code is attached below. I have posted the question in biostars but go no reply from them for 4 days. Hence I am posting the question in Stack exchange. The python code is attached below.

#!/usr/bin/python

#Import relevant modules

import sys

conservedfamily = open(sys.argv[1], 'r')
targetgenelist = open(sys.argv[2], 'w')
targetgeneid = open(sys.argv[3], 'w')

geneid = []

targetgenelist.write('miR family' + '\t' + 'Gene ID' + '\t' + 'Gene Symbol' + '\t' + 'Transcript ID' + '\t' + 'Species ID' + '\t' + 'UTR start' + '\t' + 'UTR end' + '\t' + 'MSA start' + '\t' + 'MSA end' + '\t' + 'Seed match' + '\n')

for line in conservedfamily:
  splitline = line.strip().split('\t')

  if splitline[0] == 'miR-210':
    targetgenelist.write(line)
    if not splitline[1] in geneid:
      geneid.append(splitline[1])
      targetgeneid.write(splitline[1] + '\n')

conservedfamily.close()
targetgenelist.close()
targetgeneid.close()

python miR99target.py 'Conserved_Family_Info.txt' 'miR-210targetlist.txt' 'miR-210targetid.txt'

Answer 1

I'd suggest loading in all of the miRNA tags as a set(). Then, you can just check the set membership each time.

#!/usr/bin/python

#Import relevant modules

import sys


conservedfamily = open(sys.argv[1], 'r')
targetgenelist = open(sys.argv[2], 'w')
targetgeneid = open(sys.argv[3], 'w')


# Create a set of all miRNA tags. Each tag should be on its own line.
with open(sys.argv[4], 'r') as miRNAlist:
    miRNA_set = {line.strip() for line in miRNAlist}

geneid = []

targetgenelist.write('miR family' + '\t' + 'Gene ID' + '\t' + 'Gene Symbol' + '\t' + 'Transcript ID' + '\t' + 'Species ID' + '\t' + 'UTR start' + '\t' + 'UTR end' + '\t' + 'MSA start' + '\t' + 'MSA end' + '\t' + 'Seed match' + '\n')

for line in conservedfamily:
  splitline = line.strip().split('\t')

  # Check if current tag is in the desired set
  if splitline[0] in miRNA_set:
    targetgenelist.write(line)
    if not splitline[1] in geneid:
      geneid.append(splitline[1])
      targetgeneid.write(splitline[1] + '\n')

conservedfamily.close()
targetgenelist.close()
targetgeneid.close()

One additional comment: I'd suggest using the python module for csv reading/writing, even for quick and dirty scripts as well as using context managers for reading/writing files.