Barbell Resolves Demultiplexing and Trimming Issues in Nanopore Data
Abstract
Background
Oxford Nanopore sequencing enables long-read sequencing across diverse applications, yet the experimental artifacts introduced by Nanopore barcoding are not well characterized. These artifacts can affect demultiplexing accuracy and downstream analyses.
Results
We performed a rapid barcoding experiment on 66 diagnostic samples and found that 83% of reads carried the expected single-barcode pattern, while 17% contained multiple barcodes or other artifacts. Current demultiplexers, including the widely used <monospace>Dorado</monospace> , fail to correctly handle these complex cases, leaving approximately 7% of reads partially trimmed and contaminated with adapter fragments. Additional issues include the presence of two barcodes at the same read end—either identical, originating from the same sample, or different, introduced after pooling. The latter can lead to barcode bleeding when the outer barcode is incorrectly selected. To address these challenges, we developed <monospace>Barbell</monospace> , a pattern-aware demultiplexer that detects all barcode configurations. <monospace>Barbell</monospace> reduces trimming errors by three orders of magnitude, minimizes barcode bleeding, and supports custom experimental setups such as shorter barcodes, dual-end barcodes, and custom flank sequences.
Conclusions
Our results highlight the impact of complex barcode attachments in Nanopore sequencing and demonstrate that <monospace>Barbell</monospace> drastically reduces their effects on downstream analyses. <monospace>Barbell</monospace> is open source and available at <ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://github.com/rickbeeloo/barbell">https://github.com/rickbeeloo/barbell</ext-link> .
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