TITLE: SARS-CoV-2 NCBI consensus submission protocol: GenBank
AUTHORS: Ruth Timme, Heather Blankenship, Pavitra Roychoudhury, Erin Young, Emma Griffiths, Duncan MacCannell, Stacia Wyman, Lee Katz

[DESCRIPTION]
<div class = "text-blocks"><div class = "text-block"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">PURPOSE: </span></div><div class = "text-block"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">This is a SARS-CoV-2 specific protocol that covers the steps needed to establish a new NCBI submission environment for your laboratory, including the creation of new BioProject(s) and submission groups. Once these are step up, the protocol then walks through the process for submitting raw reads to SRA and sample metadata to BioSample through the Submission portal.  </span></div><div class = "text-block">For new submitters, there's quite a bit of groundwork that needs to be established before a laboratory can start its first data submission.  We recommend that one person in the laboratory take a few days to get everything set up in advance of when you expect to do your first data submission. </div><div class = "text-block"><span>If you need a pipeline for frequent or large volume submissions,  follow Step 1 in the </span><a href="https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-submission-protocol-sra-biosample-bf7bjrin" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;">SARS-CoV-2 NCBI submission protocol: SRA, BioSample, and BioProject</span></a><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;"> </span><span>to get your NCBI submission environment established, then contact </span><a href="mailto:gb-admin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;">gb-admin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov</span></a><span> to set up an account for submitting through the API. </span></div><div class = "text-block">These protocols cover submission using NCBI's Submission Portal web-interface.</div><div class = "text-block"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">Complete in order (1 then 2):</span></div><div class = "text-block"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">1. </span><a href="https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-submission-protocol-sra-biosample-br8ym9xw" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;">SARS-CoV-2 NCBI submission protocol: SRA, BioSample, and BioProject</span></a><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;"> </span></div><div class = "text-block"><ul style = "list-style-type:disc;"><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;">Step-by-step instructions for establishing a new NCBI laboratory submission account and for creating and linking a new BioProject to an existing umbrella effort.</li><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;">SARS-CoV-2 raw data submission to SRA (Sequence Read Archive) and metadata to BioSample.</li><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;"></li><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">2. </span><a href="https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-consensus-submission-protocol-genb-bid7ka9n" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;">SARS-CoV-2 NCBI consensus submission protocol: GenBank</span></a><span style = "font-weight:bold;"> (included protocol)</span></li><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;"><span>     </span><span style = "font-style:italic;">Required</span><span>: established BioProject and BioSamples</span></li><li style = "counter-reset:ol0;list-style-type:disc;">Submit SARS-CoV-2 assemblies to NCBI GenBank, linking to existing BioProject, BioSamples, and raw data.</li></ul></div><div class = "text-block"><span style = "font-weight:bold;">2. </span><a href="https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-consensus-submission-protocol-genb-bid7ka9n" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;font-weight:bold;">SARS-CoV-2 NCBI consensus submission protocol: GenBank</span></a><span style = "font-weight:bold;"> (included protocol)</span></div><div class = "text-block"><span>     </span><span style = "font-style:italic;">Required</span><span>: established BioProject and BioSamples</span></div><div class = "text-block"><ul style = "list-style-type:disc;"></ul></div><div class = "text-block"><span>Metadata templates, explained! </span><a href="https://www.protocols.io/edit/sop-for-populating-ncbi-submission-templates-for-s-bsbpnamn" style = "text-decoration:underline;color:blue;cursor:pointer;"><span style = ":;">SOP for populating NCBI submission templates</span></a></div></div>

[STEPS]
?. ["Ingredients" to have in place before starting your submissions]
1.1: Ensure you have a working NCBI user account1.2: Identify your NCBI submission user group or establish a new one if necessary. 1.3: Bookmark the link to your submission portal1.4. BioSample + BioProject assessions in-handAfter these steps are complete you can proceed with GenBank data submission in Step 2.
?. ["Ingredients" to have in place before starting your submissions]
Sign in to your NCBI user account: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/
?. ["Ingredients" to have in place before starting your submissions]
Ensure you have an NCBI user group established and correct permissions are assigned for you to submit.List of submission groups: https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/groups/If you don't have a submission group established, please follow this protocol to create one for your laboratory group:https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-submission-protocol-sra-biosample-bf7bjrin
?. ["Ingredients" to have in place before starting your submissions]
Bookmark “my submissions” at NCBI: https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/subs/. This is your homepage for tracking your NCBI submissions. If you see a blank page with a yellow box in the upper right corner saying “please login”, click this link and login using the credentials created in Step 1.1.
?. ["Ingredients" to have in place before starting your submissions]
Identify your lab's BioProject accession. Does your laboratory have an established BioProject for this effort? If not please follow instructions in Step 3 of https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-submission-protocol-sra-biosample-br8ym9xw for creating a new one.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
GenBank consensus (or assembly) submission of SARS-CoV-2:SARS-CoV-2 landing page: https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sarscov2/Click "submit" under GenBank.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
For all sequences you intend to submit at this time (one BioProject per submission):1. Gather associated BioSample accessions and metadata previously registered in  https://www.protocols.io/edit/sars-cov-2-ncbi-submission-protocol-sra-biosample-br8ym9xw along with three pieces of information describing the sequencing method and assembly:Sequencing method. Populate with the PHA4GE field "sequencing instrument"Assembly program/pipeline. Populate with the name from the PHA4GE field "assembly method"Version of the assembly program. Populate with the version from the PHA4GE field "assembly method"  ABCDE1BioSample Accessionsample_nameseq. methodassembly programassembly version or date2SAMN15460792CA-IGI-0042MinIONARTIC-nCoV-bioinformaticsSOP1.1.03SAMN15460793CA-IGI-0031MinIONARTIC-nCoV-bioinformaticsSOP1.1.02. Concatenate all SARS-CoV-2 consensus sequences into a single fasta file, where the fasta headers contain the "sample_name" submitted to the BioSample.Example FASTA file for two sequence submissions:>CA-IGI-0042ATCGATCGGTACCTAAGGATCGATCGGTACCTAAGGATCGATCGGTACCTAAGG....>CA-IGI-0031ATCGATCGGTACCTAAGGATCGATCGGTACCTAAGGATCGATCGGTACCTAAGG....
ABCDE1BioSample Accessionsample_nameseq. methodassembly programassembly version or date2SAMN15460792CA-IGI-0042MinIONARTIC-nCoV-bioinformaticsSOP1.1.03SAMN15460793CA-IGI-0031MinIONARTIC-nCoV-bioinformaticsSOP1.1.0
NCBI allows batch submittions to one BioProject at a time. If you are submitting to more than one BioProject, you'll need to prepare multiple submissions.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
Download and populate the PHA4GE GenBank source modifiers template:Populate the metadata spreadsheets for each isolate you intend to submit (you can submit metadata for a single isolate, entire MiSeq run, or for a large collection of isolates you intend to submit in batch). **Ensure that the BioProject and BioSample(s) were registered using the same NCBI user group. If you are not listed as an owner on the BioProject/BioSample(s) you will not be able to properly link the new assembly data to existing records.theSave the excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited text file (.tsv) and ensure that the date field is formatted correctly (e.g. 2020-04-20) in the text file.
Guidance:Follow Step 4 in the SOP for populating the NCBI submission templates for populating the source modifiers.Consult the current PHA4GE contextual data specification where relevant.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
Click the “New submission” box.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SUBMISSION TYPE tab:Select the "SARS-CoV-2" option and click Continue.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SUBMITTER tab: Populate with submitter info. The “submitter” is the name of the person, or user group, who is physically doing the submissions, not a supervisor or PI. **Must be the same person or group that submitted the associated BioSamples and BioProject. Select the appropriate submission group name for your laboratory and check the contact information below.**If you do not have a submission group available to click, see Steps 1.2-1.3 in the SRA submission protocol to establish a new one for your laboratory, or to add your name to a group already established for your lab.Click "Continue" to proceed.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY tab:This information will get populated as a structured comment on the GenBank record. Pull the sequencing method and assembly information gathered in Step 2.1.Method: sequencing technology or platform.Assembly State: Click "Assembled sequences".Assembly information: Specify program/pipeline AND version.Click Continue to proceed.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SEQUENCES tab:Release date: Click "Release immediately following processing" for all routine surveillance isolates.  Sequences:Sequences can be uploaded one at a time (one per submission), or as a batch upload in a single concatenated FASTA file (https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/help/#fasta) when you are submitting multiple isolates in one submission.  See Step 2.1 for guidance on formating your FASTA file.Click "Choose File" to browse and upload your .fasta file:Click "Continue" and respond to any validation issues.Common validation issues: Ambiguous bases were trimmed warning. Ambiguous bases are non- A, T, G, or Cs. NCBI trims terminal Ns first at the 5' end, then looks to see if 50% of the first 10 bases are ambiguous and trim to last ambiguous. If more than 30% of the first 50 are ambiguous, we trim to the last ambiguous and then recheck the 5' end. If that is fine, we follow the same steps on the 3' end. This procedure is run again if we trimmed vector from an end. NCBI removes sequences that are greater than 50% ambiguous after the trimming. They also remove sequences with internal vector.String of NNNs: If your assembly contains strings of internal NNNs (from mapping to a reference genome), you will get a warning asking for you for more information:Click "A region of estimated length between the sequenced regions based on an alignment to similar sequences or genome" if the NNNs were caused by the reference-based assembly. Click "Release immediately following processing". Click "Continue" again.
Fasta headers must include a unique ID that links the sequence to the source modifiersFor example:FASTA header:>CA-IGI-0042Source modifier templateID from Sequence_ID column in metadata workbook: CA-IGI-0042
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SOURCE MODIFIERS tab:Guidance for populating this metadata outlined in Step 2.2.Upload the csv file created from populating the PHA4GE GenBank source modifiers template in Step 2.2. Upload this file by clicking on the "upload a tab-delimited text file" link.  Ensure that the first column in this spreadsheet, "Sequence_ID" contains an ID that matches exactly the ID used in your FASTA file headers.  Click Continue.
ERRORS:  If you are not listed as an owner on the BioProject/BioSample you will see an error here stating that these are "Unknown", e.g. Error: Unknown BioProject accession(s).  Solve this by updating the ownership on previous submissions OR, if you haven't created a submission group, see Steps 1.2-1.3 in the SRA submission protocol to establish a new one for your laboratory, or to add your name to a group already established for your lab.
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REFERENCES tab:Sequence Authors: Enter names here from your NCBI submission user group (can be a sub-set of the names or the full submission group list).  Publication status: For routine surveillance submissions choose "Unpublished".Click Continue.
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REVIEW & SUBMIT tab:Revew the submission and Genbank record preview, paying close attention to correct linkage of BioProject and BioSample, plus any other metadata submitted as source qualifiers (in the FEATURES->source section).Click Submit when ready.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
GenBank accessions:The status of your submission will be updated once it is processed and can be tracked within the "My Submissions" tab: https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/subs/.  GenBank accessions will be listed here, under "GenBank: Processed" and available for download in the AccessionReport.tsv file. Sequences with no annotation issues will be listed as Processed. Submissions with annotation discrepancies will be marked as Error and a Fix button will appear.  A report is emailed to you and listed on the submissions page with the detailed issues.  If the data is incorrect, click the Fix button and you will return to the sequences page of your submission to upload a corrected file.  If you have evidence that the discrepancy is due to a naturally occurring mutation, send an email to gb-admin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov with the SUB number and evidence.
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
Important data stewardship and curation notes:
For updates to your GenBank records follow the NCBI Curation Protocol hosted by GenomeTrakr: https://www.protocols.io/view/ncbi-data-curation-protocol-bacaiase
?. [Data submission (assemblies to GenBank) ]
SOURCE INFO tab:GenBank will attept to pull out IDs from the fasta headers. For our case these should be the 'sequence_ID' in the source modifier table (not the isolate).Click "none of the above"