Quantify transcript expression using pseudo-alignment with Salmon or kallisto. Use when quantifying transcripts with Salmon or kallisto.
npx skills add https://github.com/BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills --skill bio-rna-quantification-alignment-free-quant
Reference examples tested with: Salmon 1.10+, fastp 0.23+, kallisto 0.50+, pandas 2.2+
Before using code patterns, verify installed versions match. If versions differ:
<tool> --version then <tool> --help to confirm flagsIf code throws ImportError, AttributeError, or TypeError, introspect the installed
package and adapt the example to match the actual API rather than retrying.
"Quantify gene expression without alignment" → Estimate transcript abundances directly from FASTQ reads using pseudo-alignment or selective alignment, bypassing genome mapping.
salmon quant -i index -l A -1 R1.fq.gz -2 R2.fq.gz -o quant/, kallisto quant -i index -o output R1.fq.gz R2.fq.gzQuantify transcript abundance directly from FASTQ reads using pseudo-alignment (kallisto) or selective alignment (Salmon).
# Download transcriptome FASTA
# Ensembl: Homo_sapiens.GRCh38.cdna.all.fa.gz
# Basic index (fast, less accurate)
salmon index -t transcripts.fa -i salmon_index
# Decoy-aware index (recommended for accuracy)
# First, create decoys from genome
grep "^>" genome.fa | cut -d " " -f 1 | sed 's/>//g' > decoys.txt
cat transcripts.fa genome.fa > gentrome.fa
salmon index -t gentrome.fa -d decoys.txt -i salmon_index -p 8
# Paired-end reads
salmon quant -i salmon_index -l A \
-1 sample_R1.fastq.gz -2 sample_R2.fastq.gz \
-o sample_quant -p 8
# Single-end reads
salmon quant -i salmon_index -l A \
-r sample.fastq.gz \
-o sample_quant -p 8
Key flags:
-l A - Automatically detect library type-p - Number of threads--validateMappings - More accurate (default in recent versions)--gcBias - Correct for GC bias--seqBias - Correct for sequence-specific bias| Code | Description |
|------|-------------|
| A | Automatic detection (recommended) |
| ISR | Inward, stranded, read 1 from reverse |
| ISF | Inward, stranded, read 1 from forward |
| IU | Inward, unstranded |
for sample in sample1 sample2 sample3; do
salmon quant -i salmon_index -l A \
-1 ${sample}_R1.fastq.gz -2 ${sample}_R2.fastq.gz \
-o ${sample}_quant -p 8
done
sample_quant/
├── quant.sf # Main quantification file
├── aux_info/ # Auxiliary information
├── cmd_info.json # Command used
├── lib_format_counts.json # Library format detection
└── logs/ # Log files
quant.sf format:
Name Length EffectiveLength TPM NumReads
ENST00000456328.2 1657 1477.000 0.000000 0.000
ENST00000450305.2 632 452.000 12.345678 156.789
kallisto index -i kallisto_index transcripts.fa
# Paired-end
kallisto quant -i kallisto_index -o sample_quant \
sample_R1.fastq.gz sample_R2.fastq.gz
# Single-end (must specify fragment length)
kallisto quant -i kallisto_index -o sample_quant \
--single -l 200 -s 20 sample.fastq.gz
# With bootstraps (for sleuth)
kallisto quant -i kallisto_index -o sample_quant -b 100 \
sample_R1.fastq.gz sample_R2.fastq.gz
Key flags:
-b - Number of bootstrap samples-t - Number of threads--single - Single-end mode-l - Estimated fragment length (single-end)-s - Fragment length standard deviationsample_quant/
├── abundance.tsv # Main quantification (text)
├── abundance.h5 # HDF5 format (for sleuth)
└── run_info.json # Run information
abundance.tsv format:
target_id length eff_length est_counts tpm
ENST00000456328.2 1657 1477.00 0.00 0.000000
ENST00000450305.2 632 452.00 156.79 12.345678
| Feature | Salmon | kallisto |
|---------|--------|----------|
| Speed | Fast | Fastest |
| Accuracy | Higher | Good |
| GC bias correction | Yes | No |
| Decoy sequences | Yes | No |
| Memory usage | Moderate | Low |
Recommendation: Use Salmon for production, kallisto for quick exploratory analysis.
# Salmon: use tximport in R
# kallisto: use tximport or sleuth
# Quick Python combination
python << 'EOF'
import pandas as pd
from pathlib import Path
samples = ['sample1', 'sample2', 'sample3']
tpm_data = {}
counts_data = {}
for sample in samples:
quant_file = Path(f'{sample}_quant/quant.sf') # Salmon
# quant_file = Path(f'{sample}_quant/abundance.tsv') # kallisto
df = pd.read_csv(quant_file, sep='\t', index_col=0)
tpm_data[sample] = df['TPM']
counts_data[sample] = df['NumReads'] # or est_counts for kallisto
tpm_matrix = pd.DataFrame(tpm_data)
counts_matrix = pd.DataFrame(counts_data)
tpm_matrix.to_csv('tpm_matrix.csv')
counts_matrix.to_csv('counts_matrix.csv')
EOF
# Check mapping rate from Salmon logs
grep "Mapping rate" sample_quant/logs/salmon_quant.log
# Check library type detection
cat sample_quant/lib_format_counts.json
Good metrics:
Low mapping rate:
Inconsistent library types:
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