visualise_many_sequences: Visualise many DNA/RNA sequences

In ggDNAvis: 'ggplot2'-Based Tools for Visualising DNA Sequences and Modifications

Visualise many DNA/RNA sequences

Description

This function takes a vector of DNA/RNA sequences (each sequence can be any length and they can be different lengths), and plots each sequence as base-coloured squares along a single line. Setting filename allows direct export of a png image with the correct dimensions to make every base a perfect square. Empty strings ("") within the vector can be utilised as blank spacing lines. Colours and pixels per square when exported are configurable.

Usage

visualise_many_sequences(
  sequences_vector,
  sequence_colours = sequence_colour_palettes$ggplot_style,
  background_colour = "white",
  margin = 0.5,
  sequence_text_colour = "black",
  sequence_text_size = 16,
  outline_colour = "black",
  outline_linewidth = 3,
  outline_join = "mitre",
  return = TRUE,
  filename = NA,
  render_device = ragg::agg_png,
  pixels_per_base = 100
)

Arguments

sequences_vector	⁠character vector⁠. The sequences to visualise, often created from a dataframe via extract_and_sort_sequences(). E.g. c("GGCGGC", "", "AGCTAGCTA").
sequence_colours	⁠character vector⁠, length 4. A vector indicating which colours should be used for each base. In order: c(A_colour, C_colour, G_colour, T/U_colour). Defaults to red, green, blue, purple in the default shades produced by ggplot with 4 colours, i.e. c("#F8766D", "#7CAE00", "#00BFC4", "#C77CFF"), accessed via sequence_colour_palettes⁠$ggplot_style⁠.
background_colour	character. The colour of the background. Defaults to white.
margin	numeric. The size of the margin relative to the size of each base square. Defaults to 0.5 (half the side length of each base square). Very small margins (\le0.25) may cause thick outlines to be cut off at the edges of the plot. Recommended to either use a wider margin or a smaller outline_linewidth.
sequence_text_colour	character. The colour of the text within the bases (e.g. colour of "A" letter within boxes representing adenosine bases). Defaults to black.
sequence_text_size	numeric. The size of the text within the bases (e.g. size of "A" letter within boxes representing adenosine bases). Defaults to 16. Set to 0 to hide sequence text (show box colours only).
outline_colour	character. The colour of the box outlines. Defaults to black.
outline_linewidth	numeric. The linewidth of the box outlines. Defaults to 3. Set to 0 to disable box outlines.
outline_join	character. One of "mitre", "round", or "bevel" specifying how outlines should be joined at the corners of boxes. Defaults to "mitre". It would be unusual to need to change this.
return	logical. Boolean specifying whether this function should return the ggplot object, otherwise it will return invisible(NULL). Defaults to TRUE.
filename	character. Filename to which output should be saved. If set to NA (default), no file will be saved. Recommended to end with ".png", but can change if render device is changed.
render_device	⁠function/character⁠. Device to use when rendering. See ggplot2::ggsave() documentation for options. Defaults to ragg::agg_png. Can be set to NULL to infer from file extension, but results may vary between systems.
pixels_per_base	integer. How large each box should be in pixels, if file output is turned on via setting filename. Corresponds to dpi of the exported image. If text is shown (i.e. sequence_text_size is not 0), needs to be fairly large otherwise text is blurry. Defaults to 100.

Value

A ggplot object containing the full visualisation, or invisible(NULL) if return = FALSE. It is often more useful to use filename = "myfilename.png", because then the visualisation is exported at the correct aspect ratio.

Examples

## Create sequences vector
sequences <- extract_and_sort_sequences(example_many_sequences)

## Visualise example_many_sequences with all defaults
## This looks ugly because it isn't at the right scale/aspect ratio
visualise_many_sequences(sequences)

## Export with all defaults rather than returning
visualise_many_sequences(
    sequences,
    filename = "example_vms_01.png",
    return = FALSE
)
## View exported image
image <- png::readPNG("example_vms_01.png")
unlink("example_vms_01.png")
grid::grid.newpage()
grid::grid.raster(image)

## Export while customising appearance
visualise_many_sequences(
    sequences,
    filename = "example_vms_02.png",
    return = FALSE,
    sequence_colours = sequence_colour_palettes$bright_pale,
    sequence_text_colour = "white",
    background_colour = "lightgrey",
    outline_linewidth = 0,
    margin = 0
)
## View exported image
image <- png::readPNG("example_vms_02.png")
unlink("example_vms_02.png")
grid::grid.newpage()
grid::grid.raster(image)

ggDNAvis documentation built on Nov. 5, 2025, 7:36 p.m.