DATA

STRUCTURES
PYTHON FOR GENOMIC DATA SCIENCE

Lists
A list is an ordered set of values:
['gene', 5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

You can create a variable to hold this list:

>>> gene_expression=['gene',5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

'gene'
5.16e-08
0.000138511
7.33e-08

Lists
A list is an ordered set of values:
['gene', 5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

You can create a variable to hold this list:

>>> gene_expression=['gene',5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

gene_expression

gene

5.16e-08

0.000138511

7.33e-08

You can access individual list elements:
>>> print(gene_expression[2])
0.000138511
>>> print(gene_expression[-1])
7.33e-08
4

Modifying Lists 0
gene_expression

Lif
gene

5.16e-08

0.000138511

7.33e-08

You can change an individual list element:

>>> gene_expression[0]='Lif'
>>> print(gene_expression)
['Lif', 5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

Modifying Lists 0
gene_expression

Lif
gene

5.16e-08

0.000138511

7.33e-08

You can change an individual list element:

>>> gene_expression[0]='Lif'
>>> print(gene_expression)
['Lif', 5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

Dont change an element in a string!

Unlike strings,
which are
immutable, lists are
a mutable type!

>>> motif ='nacggggtc'

>>> motif[0]='a'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#11>", line 1, in <module>
motif[0]='a'
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment

Slicing Lists
gene_expression

Lif
gene

5.16e-08

0.000138511

7.33e-08

You can slice a list (it will create a new list):

>>> gene_expression[-3:]
[5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

The following special slice returns a new copy of the list:
>>> gene_expression[:]
['Lif', 5.16e-08, 0.000138511, 7.33e-08]

Slicing Lists
gene_expression

Lif
gene

5.16e-08

0.000138511

7.33e-08

Assignment to slices is also possible, and this can change the list:
>>> gene_expression[1:3]=[6.09e-07]
0
gene_expression

Lif
gene

1
6.09e-07
5.16e-08

2
7.33e-08
0.000138511

>>> gene_expression[:]=[] # this clears the list

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Common List Operations

0
1
gene_expression

Lif
gene

6.09e-07
5.16e-08

7.33e-08
0.000138511

Like strings, lists also support concatenation:

>>> gene_expression+[5.16e-08, 0.000138511]
['Lif', 6.09e-07, 7.33e-08, 5.16e-08, 0.000138511]

The built-in function len() also applies to lists:
>>> len(gene_expression)
3

Common List Operations

0
1
gene_expression

Lif
gene

6.09e-07
5.16e-08

7.33e-08
0.000138511

Like strings, lists also support concatenation:

>>> gene_expression+[5.16e-08, 0.000138511]
['Lif', 6.09e-07, 7.33e-08, 5.16e-08, 0.000138511]

The built-in function len() also applies to lists:
>>> len(gene_expression)
3

The del statement can be used to remove elements and slices

from a list destructively:
>>> del gene_expression[1]
>>> gene_expression
['Lif', 7.33e-08]

10

Lists As Objects
The list data type has several methods. Among them:
a method to extend a list by appending all the items in a given list:
>>> gene_expression.extend([5.16e-08, 0.000138511])
>>> gene_expression
['Lif', 7.33e-08, 5.16e-08, 0.000138511]

11

Lists As Objects
The list data type has several methods. Among them:
a method to extend a list by appending all the items in a given list:
>>> gene_expression.extend([5.16e-08, 0.000138511])
>>> gene_expression
['Lif', 7.33e-08, 5.16e-08, 0.000138511]

a method to count the number of times an element appears in a list:

>>> print(gene_expression.count('Lif'),gene_expression.count('gene'))
1 0

a method to reverse all elements in a list:

>>> gene_expression.reverse()
>>> gene_expression
[0.000138511, 5.16e-08, 7.33e-08, 'Lif']

You can Tind all the methods of the list object using the help()
function:
>>> help(list)
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Lists As Stacks
The list methods append and pop make it
very easy to use a list as a stack, where the
last element added is the Tirst element
retrieved (last-in, Tirst-out).
>>> stack=['a','b','c','d]

4
3
2
1
0

d
c
b
a
stack

elem
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Lists As Stacks
The list methods append and pop make it
very easy to use a list as a stack, where the
last element added is the Tirst element
retrieved (last-in, Tirst-out).
>>> stack=['a','b','c','d']

To add an item to the top of the stack, use

append():
>>> [Link]('e')

To retrieve an item from the top of the stack, 4

3
use pop():
>>> elem=[Link]()
>>> elem
'e'

2
1
0

d
c
b
a
stack

elem
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Sorting Lists
There are two ways to sort lists:
one way uses the sorted() built-in function:
>>>
>>>
[1,
>>>
[3,

mylist=[3,31,123,1,5]
sorted(mylist)
3, 5, 31, 123]
mylist
31, 123, 1, 5]

another way is to use the list sort() method:

>>>

[Link]()

15

Sorting Lists
There are two ways to sort lists:
one way uses the sorted() built-in function:
>>>
>>>
[1,
>>>
[3,

mylist=[3,31,123,1,5]
sorted(mylist)
3, 5, 31, 123]
mylist
31, 123, 1, 5]

another way is to use the list sort() method:

>>>

[Link]()

>>> mylist
[1, 3, 5, 31, 123]

the sort() method modiTies the list!

The elements of the list dont need to be numbers:

>>> mylist=['c','g','T','a','A']
>>> print(sorted(mylist))
['A', 'T', 'a', 'c', 'g']
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Tuples
A tuple consists of a number of values separated by commas, and is
another standard sequence data type, like strings and lists.
>>> t=1,2,3
>>> t
We may input tuples may with or
(1, 2, 3)
without surrounding parentheses.
>>> t=(1,2,3)
>>> t
(1, 2, 3)

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Tuples
A tuple consists of a number of values separated by commas, and is
another standard sequence data type, like strings and lists.
>>> t=1,2,3
>>> t
We may input tuples may with or
(1, 2, 3)
without surrounding parentheses.
>>> t=(1,2,3)
>>> t
(1, 2, 3)
Tuples have many common properties with lists, such as indexing
and slicing operations, but while lists are mutable, tuples are
immutable, and usually contain an heterogeneous sequence of
elements.
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Sets
A set is an unordered collection with no duplicate elements.
Set objects support mathematical operations like union,
intersection, and difference.
>>> brca1={'DNA repair','zinc ion binding','DNA
binding','ubiquitin-protein transferase activity', 'DNA
repair','protein ubiquitination'}
>>> brca1
{'DNA repair','zinc ion binding','DNA binding','ubiquitin-protein
transferase activity', 'DNA repair','protein ubiquitination'}

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Sets
A set is an unordered collection with no duplicate elements.
Set objects support mathematical operations like union,
intersection, and difference.
>>> brca1={'DNA repair','zinc ion binding','DNA
binding','ubiquitin-protein transferase activity', 'DNA
repair','protein ubiquitination'}
>>> brca1
{'DNA repair','zinc ion binding','DNA binding','ubiquitin-protein
transferase activity,'protein ubiquitination'}
>>> brca2={'protein binding','H4 histone acetyltransferase
activity','nucleoplasm', 'DNA repair','double-strand break
repair', 'double-strand break repair via homologous
recombination'}

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Operation with Sets

>>> brca1 | brca2
{'DNA repair','zinc ion binding','DNA
binding','ubiquitin-protein transferase
activity,'protein ubiquitination', 'protein
binding','H4 histone acetyltransferase
activity','nucleoplasm','double-strand break repair',
'double-strand break repair via homologous
recombination'}
>>> brca1 & brca2
{'DNA repair'}
>>> brca1 brca2
{'zinc ion binding','DNA binding','ubiquitin-protein
transferase activity,'protein ubiquitination'}

union

intersection

difference

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Dictionaries
A dictionary is an unordered set of key and value pairs, with
the requirement that the keys are unique (within one
dictionary).
TF_motif
"SP1"

'gggcgg'

"C/EBP"

'attgcgcaat'

"ATF"

'tgacgtca'

"c-Myc"

'cacgtg'

"Oct-1"

'atgcaaat'

keys: can be

values: can be

any immutable type:

e.g. strings, numbers.

any type.

>>> TF_motif =
{'SP1' :'gggcgg',
'C/EBP':'attgcgcaat',
'ATF':'tgacgtca',
'c-Myc':'cacgtg',
'Oct-1':'atgcaaat'}

Each key is separated from its

value by a colon.

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Accessing Values From A Dictionary

Use a dictionary key within square brackets to obtain its value:
>>> TF_motif={'SP1' : 'gggcgg', 'C/EBP':'attgcgcaat',
'ATF':'tgacgtca','c-Myc':'cacgtg','Oct-1':'atgcaaat'}
>>> print("The recognition sequence for the ATF transcription
is %s. % TF_motif['ATF'])
The recognition sequence for the ATF transcription is
tgacgtca.

Attempting to access a key that is not part of the dictionary

produces an error:
>>> print("The recognition sequence for the NF-1 transcription
is %s. % TF_motif['NF-1'])
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#291>", line 1, in <module>
print("The recognition sequence for the ATF transcription
is %s"%TF_motif['NF-1'])
KeyError: 'NF-1'

Check Tirst if a key is present!

>>> 'NF-1' in TF_motif
False

23

Updating A Dictionary
>>> TF_motif={'SP1' : 'gggcgg', 'C/EBP':'attgcgcaat',
'ATF':'tgacgtca','c-Myc':'cacgtg'}

Add a new key:value pair to the dictionary:

>>> TF_motif['AP-1']='tgagtca'
>>> TF_motif
{'ATF': 'tgacgtca', 'c-Myc': 'cacgtg', 'SP1': 'gggcgg',
'C/EBP': 'attgcgcaat', 'AP-1': 'tgagtca'}

Modify an existing entry:

>>> TF_motif['AP-1']='tga(g/c)tca'
>>> TF_motif
{'ATF': 'tgacgtca', 'c-Myc': 'cacgtg', 'SP1': 'gggcgg',
'C/EBP': 'attgcgcaat', 'AP-1': 'tga(g/c)tca}

24

Updating A Dictionary (contd)

>>> TF_motif
{'ATF': 'tgacgtca', 'c-Myc': 'cacgtg', 'SP1': 'gggcgg', 'C/
EBP': 'attgcgcaat', 'AP-1': 'tga(g/c)tca}

Delete a key from the dictionary:

>>> del TF_motif['SP1']
>>> TF_motif
{'ATF': 'tgacgtca', 'c-Myc': 'cacgtg', 'C/EBP': 'attgcgcaat',
'AP-1': 'tga(g/c)tca'}

Add another dictionary (multiple key:value pairs) to the current

one:

Note the overlap with the current dictionary.

>>> TF_motif.update({'SP1': 'gggcgg', 'C/EBP': 'attgcgcaat',

'Oct-1': 'atgcaaa'})
>>> TF_motif
{'ATF': 'tgacgtca', 'c-Myc': 'cacgtg', 'SP1': 'gggcgg', 'C/
EBP': 'attgcgcaat', 'Oct-1': 'atgcaaa', 'AP-1': 'tga(g/c)tca'}
25

Listing All Elements In A Dictionary

The size of a dictionary can be easily obtained by using the built-

in function len():

>>> len(TF_motif)
6

It is possible to get a list of all the keys in the dictionary:

>>> list(TF_motif.keys())
['ATF', 'c-Myc', 'SP1', 'C/EBP', 'Oct-1', 'AP-1']

Similarly you can get a list of all the values:

>>> list(TF_motif.values())
['tgacgtca', 'cacgtg', 'gggcgg', 'attgcgcaat', 'atgcaaa',
'tga(g/c)tca']

The lists found as above are in arbitrary order, but if you want

them sorted you can use the sorted() function:

>>> sorted(TF_motif.keys())
['AP-1', 'ATF', 'C/EBP', 'Oct-1', 'SP1', 'c-Myc']
>>> sorted(TF_motif.values())
['atgcaaa', 'attgcgcaat', 'cacgtg', 'gggcgg', 'tga(g/c)tca',
'tgacgtca']
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Sequence Data Types Comparison

Action

Strings

Lists

Dictionaries

Creation

"...", ..., "..."

[a, b, ..., n]

{keya: a, keyb: b, ...,

keyn:n }

Access to an element

s[i]

L[i]

D[key]

Membership

c in s

e in L

key in D

Remove en element

Not Possible
s = s[:i1]+s[i+1:]

del L[i]

del D[key]

Change an element

Not Possible
s=s[:i1]+new+s[i+1:]

L[i]=new

D[key]=new

Add an element

Not Possible
s=s + new

[Link](e)

D[newkey]=val

Remove consecutive
elements

Not Possible
s=s[:i]+s[k:]

del L[i:k]

Not Possible, not

ordered but, remove all
[Link]()

Change consecutive
elements

Not Possible
s=s[:i]+news+s[k:]

L[i:k]=Lnew

Not Possible

Add more than one

element

Not Possible
s=s+news

[Link](newL) or
L = L + Lnew

[Link](newD)

Adapted from [Link]

27