Any thoughts on replacing antiSMASH with metaSMASH? biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/… github.com/canerbagci/metasmash

I think a new option is better than a replacement since some people may use it in their research now.

Maintenance burden is a concern to me, to be honest. Is the intent to replace one with the other? I know Kai a bit, I see he’s on both projects.

metaSMASH comes from the same lab that developed antiSMASH. It outputs identical results, but it's supposed to be much more computationally efficient for large metagenomic datasets.

Right. More specifically, to Haidong’s point: are both going to be maintained separately, or is metaSMASH going to take over antiSMASH’s functionality? A new option makes a little more sense, but to replace one with the other might be a problem. The

antismash

directory in both distributions look identical but there are commit differences between the two.

No idea if both tools will somehow be developed in parallel or if metaSMASH will supersede antiSMASH, but I do see your point. Might be best to ask Kai Blin about it. I won't be able to work on this myself right now, not until Easter, at the least.