title: ntHash: recursive nucleotide hashing.
abstract: Hashing has been widely used for indexing, querying and rapid similarity search in many bioinformatics applications, including sequence alignment, genome and transcriptome assembly, k-mer counting and error correction. Hence, expediting hashing operations would have a substantial impact in the field, making bioinformatics applications faster and more efficient.
  
  
  
  We present ntHash, a hashing algorithm tuned for processing DNA/RNA sequences. It performs the best when calculating hash values for adjacent k-mers in an input sequence, operating an order of magnitude faster than the best performing alternatives in typical use cases.
  
  
  
  ntHash is available online at http://www.bcgsc.ca/platform/bioinfo/software/nthash and is free for academic use.
  
  
  
  hmohamadi@bcgsc.ca or ibirol@bcgsc.caSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
authors.affiliation: Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohamadi
authors.affiliation: Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Benjamin P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Vandervalk
authors.affiliation: Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Inanc
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Birol
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009711:Nucleotides; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D009711:Nucleotides