TPA

[Caution] From January 2025 TPA-Exp and TPA-Inf submission types will no longer be accepted as new submissions

TPA (Third Party Data) is a nucleotide sequence data collection in which each primary is obtained by assembling primary entries publicized from with additional feature annotation(s) determined by experimental or inferential methods by TPA submitter.
Those assemblies include two cases; one or more primary entries are used and newly determined sequence is contained. TPA sequence data should be submitted to DDBJ/EMBL-Bank/GenBank as a part of the process to publish biological research for primary nucleotide sequences.

Reference Literature: Cochrane,G. et al. (2006) OMICS,10(2): 105-113

Definition of primary entry for TPA

Primary entries used to build a TPA sequence are those that have been experimentally determined and are publicly available in the DDBJ/EMBL-Bank/GenBank databases.Each primary entry must be identified in the TPA entry.

Primary entries are sometimes not yet publicized at the submission of TPA sequence.However, the primary entries must be publicized when TPA sequence is opened to the public.

Acceptable TPA sequence data

In order to draw a distinction between annotation supported by wet-lab. experimental evidence and inferred annotation, the TPA dataset is divided into TPA:experimental and TPA:inferential.
Please refer to the detailed list of TPA rule.

TPA:experimental	describes records that include functional annotation derived at least in part from peer-reviewed wet-lab experimental investigation.
TPA:inferential	describes records that include functional annotation derived from peer-reviewed bioinformatic investigation.
TPA:assembly	describes records reporting assembly or reassembly, for which the generation, whether it is purely informatic or informed by experimentation, has been subject to peer review. Annotation may or may not be available and does not require to be part of the peer review for this TPA class.
TPA:specialist_db	describes records whose sequences are submitted from an existing authoritative public database that is built using INSDC sequence data and is described in an accepted peer-reviewed publication. The existing database is therefore recognized to be comprehensive, to have added value, and to be maintained long term.

[Note]Until 2005, the only entries which were supported by biological (wet-lab.) experiment were accepted in TPA. Since 2006, entries which are not supported by wet-lab. experiment have been included into TPA when the entry meets the requirements of TPA Submission Guidelines.

The following cases are NOT acceptable in TPA

Annotation of repeat (and no other) features.
Annotation that has arisen from an automated tool, such as GeneMark,tRNA scan or ORF finder, where no further evidence, experimental or otherwise, is presented for the annotation. The annotation in these cases has not been the subject of the peer review of the publication.
A record representing a completely sequenced genome including only features that have not been assigned gene symbols or product identifiers, for which none has wet laboratory experimental evidence.

Refer also this page

Notes on the TPA submission

Consensus sequences obtained from multiple species are not acceptable.
The sequences of primary entries used to assemble a TPA sequence are required to be submitted to INSDC as ‘primary data (i.e. not TPA)’ or Trace Archive. If your TPA sequence contains a region that can not be obtained from INSDC or Trace Archive, but has been experimentally determined by yourself, at first, you have to submit it to DDBJ or Trace Archive.
For publicizing of TPA sequence, the evidence which support the sequence or annotation must be shown in a paper of a peer-reviewed journal.
To describe the correspondence of sequence regions between TPA and primary entries, both locations should be prepared.

The sequence alignment rule between TPA and primary entries

There cannot be stretches of more than 50bp which are unaccounted for by any contributing entry.
A TPA sequence may not differ from the primary sequence(s) used to build/assemble it and any unmatched sections by greater than 5%. (This includes the overall length and individual primary accession)
This 5% (or less) difference will include sections of TPA sequence not covered by any primary, and it will include any differences between the TPA sequence and the primaries used, such as insertions, deletions, and substitutions.
These rules are based on length and similarity.

Aspects of TPA on DDBJ flat file

LOCUS line provides the taxonomic division except CON and TSA cases.
Either of “TPA_exp:” (for TPA:experimental) or “TPA_inf:” (for TPA:inferential) is shown at the beginning of DEFINITION line.

Either set of the following values is indicated in KEYWORDS line.

for TPA:experimental	Third Party Data; TPA; TPA:experimental.
for TPA:inferential	Third Party Data; TPA; TPA:inferential.
for TPA:assembly	Third Party Data; TPA; TPA:assembly.
for TPA:specialist_db	Third Party Data; TPA; TPA:specialist_db.

PRIMARY block provides base spans cited from sequeces of primary entries that contribute to regions of the TPA sequence.

Sample of TPA flat file

LOCUS       BR000000              2000 bp    mRNA    linear   HUM 17-SEP-2006
DEFINITION  TPA_exp: Homo sapiens GAPD gene for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
            dehydrogenase, complete cds.
ACCESSION   BR000000
VERSION     BR000000.1
KEYWORDS    Third Party Data; TPA; TPA:experimental.
SOURCE      Homo sapiens (human)
  ORGANISM  Homo sapiens
            Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi;
            Mammalia; Eutheria; Euarchontoglires; Primates; Haplorrhini;
            Catarrhini; Hominidae; Homo.
REFERENCE   1  (bases 1 to 2000)
  AUTHORS   Mishima,H. and Shizuoka,T.
  TITLE     Direct Submission
  JOURNAL   Submitted (30-NOV-2005) to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases.
            Contact:Hanako Mishima
            National Institute of Genetics, DNA Data Bank of Japan; Yata 1111,
            Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
REFERENCE   2
  AUTHORS   Mishima,H., Shizuoka,T. and Fuji,I.
  TITLE     Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of human
  JOURNAL   TPA Biol Chem 10, 50-59 (2006)
COMMENT             
PRIMARY     TPA_SPAN            PRIMARY_IDENTIFIER PRIMARY_SPAN        COMP
            1-1000              ZZ000001.1         50001-51000
            101-200             ZZ000003.1         1-100
            501-600             ZZ000003.1         101-200
            901-2000            ZZ000002.1         25001-26100         c
            1451-1550           ZZ000003.1         201-300
FEATURES             Location/Qualifiers
     source          1..2000
                     /collection_date="2007"
                     /db_xref="taxon:9606"
                     /geo_loc_name="Japan"
                     /mol_type="genomic DNA"
                     /organism="Homo sapiens"
     CDS             join(153..200,501..600,1451..1500) 
                     /codon_start=1
                     /gene="GAPD"
                     /product="glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase"
                     /protein_id="FAA00000.1"
                     /transl_table=1
                     /translation="MWYQSLVIIEKLNLEANIGKLINTKDNINIRCRLSHTEEHSWHS
                     NNSQLNLIVDLIYNFYINWSK"
BASE COUNT          522 a          493 c          524 g          461 t
ORIGIN
        1 attaatataa gctaaatatg tttttcaata tatattgata atagaatatc aacaatttgg
        :
        -- The rest of sequence is omitted --
        :
//