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Add an MZ:i tag.
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This is used as a sanity check on the validity of the MM and ML tags.
It holds the length of SEQ at the time MM and ML were produced and/or
updated.  The intention is to provide a mechanism to detect
hard-clipping has been performed with a tool that is not MM/ML aware.

Fixes #646
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jkbonfield committed Apr 6, 2023
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11 changes: 11 additions & 0 deletions SAMtags.tex
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Expand Up @@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ \section{Standard tags}
{\tt ML} & B,C & Base modification probabilities \\
{\tt MM} & Z & Base modifications / methylation \\
{\tt MQ} & i & Mapping quality of the mate/next segment \\
{\tt MZ} & i & Length of sequence at the time {\tt MM} and {\tt ML} were produced \\
{\tt NH} & i & Number of reported alignments that contain the query in the current record \\
{\tt NM} & i & Edit distance to the reference \\
{\tt OA} & Z & Original alignment \\
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -621,6 +622,16 @@ \subsection{Base modifications}
{\tt ML} values for ambiguity codes give the probability that the modification is one of the possible codes compatible with that ambiguity code.
For example {\tt MM:Z:C+C,10; ML:B:C,229} indicates a C call with a probability of 90\% of having some form of unspecified modification.

\item[MZ:i:\tagvalue{length}]
\hfill\\
Tools may edit the {\sf SEQ} sequence data, such as modifying the alignment with hard-clipping.
If the sequence is shrunk in this manner then the base offsets in {\tt MM} and {\tt ML} become invalid unless they are also updated accordingly.

There may be hard-clipping tools which update {\tt MM} and tools which do not, so the {\tt MZ} tag offers a simple sanity check.
It holds the length of the sequence at the time {\tt MM} was last written.
Tools that wish to validate {\tt MM} should compare the length of the {\sf SEQ} field with the contents of the {\tt MZ} tag.
The tag is optional, but recommended, and if it is absent then there is an implicit assumption that the {\tt MM} data is valid unless evidence implies otherwise (such as having coordinates beyond the end of the sequence).

\end{description}

\section{Draft tags}
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