File: __init__.py

package info (click to toggle)
python-biopython 1.68%2Bdfsg-3~bpo8%2B1
  • links: PTS, VCS
  • area: main
  • in suites: jessie-backports
  • size: 46,856 kB
  • sloc: python: 160,306; xml: 93,216; ansic: 9,118; sql: 1,208; makefile: 155; sh: 63
file content (657 lines) | stat: -rw-r--r-- 27,563 bytes parent folder | download | duplicates (2)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
# Copyright 2008-2011 by Peter Cock.
# All rights reserved.
# This code is part of the Biopython distribution and governed by its
# license.  Please see the LICENSE file that should have been included
# as part of this package.
"""Code for dealing with sequence alignments.

One of the most important things in this module is the MultipleSeqAlignment
class, used in the Bio.AlignIO module.

"""
from __future__ import print_function

from Bio.Seq import Seq
from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
from Bio import Alphabet

# We only import this and subclass it for some limited backward compatibility.
from Bio.Align.Generic import Alignment as _Alignment


class MultipleSeqAlignment(_Alignment):
    """Represents a classical multiple sequence alignment (MSA).

    By this we mean a collection of sequences (usually shown as rows) which
    are all the same length (usually with gap characters for insertions or
    padding). The data can then be regarded as a matrix of letters, with well
    defined columns.

    You would typically create an MSA by loading an alignment file with the
    AlignIO module:

    >>> from Bio import AlignIO
    >>> align = AlignIO.read("Clustalw/opuntia.aln", "clustal")
    >>> print(align)
    SingleLetterAlphabet() alignment with 7 rows and 156 columns
    TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191
    TATACATAAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191

    In some respects you can treat these objects as lists of SeqRecord objects,
    each representing a row of the alignment. Iterating over an alignment gives
    the SeqRecord object for each row:

    >>> len(align)
    7
    >>> for record in align:
    ...     print("%s %i" % (record.id, len(record)))
    gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191 156
    gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191 156

    You can also access individual rows as SeqRecord objects via their index:

    >>> print(align[0].id)
    gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
    >>> print(align[-1].id)
    gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191

    And extract columns as strings:

    >>> print(align[:, 1])
    AAAAAAA

    Or, take just the first ten columns as a sub-alignment:

    >>> print(align[:, :10])
    SingleLetterAlphabet() alignment with 7 rows and 10 columns
    TATACATTAA gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
    TATACATTAA gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191
    TATACATTAA gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191
    TATACATAAA gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191
    TATACATTAA gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191
    TATACATTAA gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191
    TATACATTAA gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191

    Combining this alignment slicing with alignment addition allows you to
    remove a section of the alignment. For example, taking just the first
    and last ten columns:

    >>> print(align[:, :10] + align[:, -10:])
    SingleLetterAlphabet() alignment with 7 rows and 20 columns
    TATACATTAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191
    TATACATAAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAGTATACCAGA gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191
    TATACATTAAGTGTACCAGA gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191

    Note - This object is intended to replace the existing Alignment object
    defined in module Bio.Align.Generic but is not fully backwards compatible
    with it.

    Note - This object does NOT attempt to model the kind of alignments used
    in next generation sequencing with multiple sequencing reads which are
    much shorter than the alignment, and where there is usually a consensus or
    reference sequence with special status.
    """

    def __init__(self, records, alphabet=None,
                 annotations=None):
        """Initialize a new MultipleSeqAlignment object.

        Arguments:
         - records - A list (or iterator) of SeqRecord objects, whose
                     sequences are all the same length.  This may be an be an
                     empty list.
         - alphabet - The alphabet for the whole alignment, typically a gapped
                      alphabet, which should be a super-set of the individual
                      record alphabets.  If omitted, a consensus alphabet is
                      used.
         - annotations - Information about the whole alignment (dictionary).

        You would normally load a MSA from a file using Bio.AlignIO, but you
        can do this from a list of SeqRecord objects too:

        >>> from Bio.Alphabet import generic_dna
        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> from Bio.Align import MultipleSeqAlignment
        >>> a = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAACGT", generic_dna), id="Alpha")
        >>> b = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-CGT", generic_dna), id="Beta")
        >>> c = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAAGGT", generic_dna), id="Gamma")
        >>> align = MultipleSeqAlignment([a, b, c], annotations={"tool": "demo"})
        >>> print(align)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 7 columns
        AAAACGT Alpha
        AAA-CGT Beta
        AAAAGGT Gamma
        >>> align.annotations
        {'tool': 'demo'}

        NOTE - The older Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment class only accepted a
        single argument, an alphabet.  This is still supported via a backwards
        compatible "hack" so as not to disrupt existing scripts and users, but
        is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
        """
        if isinstance(records, (Alphabet.Alphabet, Alphabet.AlphabetEncoder)):
            if alphabet is None:
                # TODO - Remove this backwards compatible mode!
                alphabet = records
                records = []
                import warnings
                from Bio import BiopythonDeprecationWarning
                warnings.warn("Invalid records argument: While the old "
                              "Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment class only "
                              "accepted a single argument (the alphabet), the "
                              "newer Bio.Align.MultipleSeqAlignment class "
                              "expects a list/iterator of SeqRecord objects "
                              "(which can be an empty list) and an optional "
                              "alphabet argument", BiopythonDeprecationWarning)
            else:
                raise ValueError("Invalid records argument")
        if alphabet is not None:
            if not isinstance(alphabet, (Alphabet.Alphabet, Alphabet.AlphabetEncoder)):
                raise ValueError("Invalid alphabet argument")
            self._alphabet = alphabet
        else:
            # Default while we add sequences, will take a consensus later
            self._alphabet = Alphabet.single_letter_alphabet

        self._records = []
        if records:
            self.extend(records)
            if alphabet is None:
                # No alphabet was given, take a consensus alphabet
                self._alphabet = Alphabet._consensus_alphabet(rec.seq.alphabet for
                                                              rec in self._records
                                                              if rec.seq is not None)

        # Annotations about the whole alignment
        if annotations is None:
            annotations = {}
        elif not isinstance(annotations, dict):
            raise TypeError("annotations argument should be a dict")
        self.annotations = annotations

    def extend(self, records):
        """Add more SeqRecord objects to the alignment as rows.

        They must all have the same length as the original alignment, and have
        alphabets compatible with the alignment's alphabet. For example,

        >>> from Bio.Alphabet import generic_dna
        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> from Bio.Align import MultipleSeqAlignment
        >>> a = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAACGT", generic_dna), id="Alpha")
        >>> b = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-CGT", generic_dna), id="Beta")
        >>> c = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAAGGT", generic_dna), id="Gamma")
        >>> d = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAACGT", generic_dna), id="Delta")
        >>> e = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-GGT", generic_dna), id="Epsilon")

        First we create a small alignment (three rows):

        >>> align = MultipleSeqAlignment([a, b, c])
        >>> print(align)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 7 columns
        AAAACGT Alpha
        AAA-CGT Beta
        AAAAGGT Gamma

        Now we can extend this alignment with another two rows:

        >>> align.extend([d, e])
        >>> print(align)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 5 rows and 7 columns
        AAAACGT Alpha
        AAA-CGT Beta
        AAAAGGT Gamma
        AAAACGT Delta
        AAA-GGT Epsilon

        Because the alignment object allows iteration over the rows as
        SeqRecords, you can use the extend method with a second alignment
        (provided its sequences have the same length as the original alignment).
        """
        if len(self):
            # Use the standard method to get the length
            expected_length = self.get_alignment_length()
        else:
            # Take the first record's length
            records = iter(records)  # records arg could be list or iterator
            try:
                rec = next(records)
            except StopIteration:
                # Special case, no records
                return
            expected_length = len(rec)
            self._append(rec, expected_length)
            # Now continue to the rest of the records as usual

        for rec in records:
            self._append(rec, expected_length)

    def append(self, record):
        """Add one more SeqRecord object to the alignment as a new row.

        This must have the same length as the original alignment (unless this is
        the first record), and have an alphabet compatible with the alignment's
        alphabet.

        >>> from Bio import AlignIO
        >>> align = AlignIO.read("Clustalw/opuntia.aln", "clustal")
        >>> print(align)
        SingleLetterAlphabet() alignment with 7 rows and 156 columns
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191
        TATACATAAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191
        >>> len(align)
        7

        We'll now construct a dummy record to append as an example:

        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> dummy = SeqRecord(Seq("N"*156), id="dummy")

        Now append this to the alignment,

        >>> align.append(dummy)
        >>> print(align)
        SingleLetterAlphabet() alignment with 8 rows and 156 columns
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273285|gb|AF191659.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273284|gb|AF191658.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273287|gb|AF191661.1|AF191
        TATACATAAAAGAAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273286|gb|AF191660.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273290|gb|AF191664.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273289|gb|AF191663.1|AF191
        TATACATTAAAGGAGGGGGATGCGGATAAATGGAAAGGCGAAAG...AGA gi|6273291|gb|AF191665.1|AF191
        NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...NNN dummy
        >>> len(align)
        8

        """
        if self._records:
            self._append(record, self.get_alignment_length())
        else:
            self._append(record)

    def _append(self, record, expected_length=None):
        """Helper function (PRIVATE)."""
        if not isinstance(record, SeqRecord):
            raise TypeError("New sequence is not a SeqRecord object")

        # Currently the get_alignment_length() call is expensive, so we need
        # to avoid calling it repeatedly for __init__ and extend, hence this
        # private _append method
        if expected_length is not None and len(record) != expected_length:
            # TODO - Use the following more helpful error, but update unit tests
            # raise ValueError("New sequence is not of length %i" \
            #                 % self.get_alignment_length())
            raise ValueError("Sequences must all be the same length")

        # Using not self.alphabet.contains(record.seq.alphabet) needs fixing
        # for AlphabetEncoders (e.g. gapped versus ungapped).
        if not Alphabet._check_type_compatible([self._alphabet, record.seq.alphabet]):
            raise ValueError("New sequence's alphabet is incompatible")
        self._records.append(record)

    def __add__(self, other):
        """Combines two alignments with the same number of rows by adding them.

        If you have two multiple sequence alignments (MSAs), there are two ways to think
        about adding them - by row or by column. Using the extend method adds by row.
        Using the addition operator adds by column. For example,

        >>> from Bio.Alphabet import generic_dna
        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> from Bio.Align import MultipleSeqAlignment
        >>> a1 = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAAC", generic_dna), id="Alpha")
        >>> b1 = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-C", generic_dna), id="Beta")
        >>> c1 = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAAG", generic_dna), id="Gamma")
        >>> a2 = SeqRecord(Seq("GT", generic_dna), id="Alpha")
        >>> b2 = SeqRecord(Seq("GT", generic_dna), id="Beta")
        >>> c2 = SeqRecord(Seq("GT", generic_dna), id="Gamma")
        >>> left = MultipleSeqAlignment([a1, b1, c1],
        ...                             annotations={"tool": "demo", "name": "start"})
        >>> right = MultipleSeqAlignment([a2, b2, c2],
        ...                             annotations={"tool": "demo", "name": "end"})

        Now, let's look at these two alignments:

        >>> print(left)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 5 columns
        AAAAC Alpha
        AAA-C Beta
        AAAAG Gamma
        >>> print(right)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 2 columns
        GT Alpha
        GT Beta
        GT Gamma

        And add them:

        >>> combined = left + right
        >>> print(combined)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 7 columns
        AAAACGT Alpha
        AAA-CGT Beta
        AAAAGGT Gamma

        For this to work, both alignments must have the same number of records (here
        they both have 3 rows):

        >>> len(left)
        3
        >>> len(right)
        3
        >>> len(combined)
        3

        The individual rows are SeqRecord objects, and these can be added together. Refer
        to the SeqRecord documentation for details of how the annotation is handled. This
        example is a special case in that both original alignments shared the same names,
        meaning when the rows are added they also get the same name.

        Any common annotations are preserved, but differing annotation is lost. This is
        the same behaviour used in the SeqRecord annotations and is designed to prevent
        accidental propagation of inappropriate values:

        >>> combined.annotations
        {'tool': 'demo'}

        """
        if not isinstance(other, MultipleSeqAlignment):
            raise NotImplementedError
        if len(self) != len(other):
            raise ValueError("When adding two alignments they must have the same length"
                             " (i.e. same number or rows)")
        alpha = Alphabet._consensus_alphabet([self._alphabet, other._alphabet])
        merged = (left + right for left, right in zip(self, other))
        # Take any common annotation:
        annotations = dict()
        for k, v in self.annotations.items():
            if k in other.annotations and other.annotations[k] == v:
                annotations[k] = v
        return MultipleSeqAlignment(merged, alpha, annotations)

    def __getitem__(self, index):
        """Access part of the alignment.

        Depending on the indices, you can get a SeqRecord object
        (representing a single row), a Seq object (for a single columns),
        a string (for a single characters) or another alignment
        (representing some part or all of the alignment).

        align[r,c] gives a single character as a string
        align[r] gives a row as a SeqRecord
        align[r,:] gives a row as a SeqRecord
        align[:,c] gives a column as a Seq (using the alignment's alphabet)

        align[:] and align[:,:] give a copy of the alignment

        Anything else gives a sub alignment, e.g.
        align[0:2] or align[0:2,:] uses only row 0 and 1
        align[:,1:3] uses only columns 1 and 2
        align[0:2,1:3] uses only rows 0 & 1 and only cols 1 & 2

        We'll use the following example alignment here for illustration:

        >>> from Bio.Alphabet import generic_dna
        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> from Bio.Align import MultipleSeqAlignment
        >>> a = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAACGT", generic_dna), id="Alpha")
        >>> b = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-CGT", generic_dna), id="Beta")
        >>> c = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAAGGT", generic_dna), id="Gamma")
        >>> d = SeqRecord(Seq("AAAACGT", generic_dna), id="Delta")
        >>> e = SeqRecord(Seq("AAA-GGT", generic_dna), id="Epsilon")
        >>> align = MultipleSeqAlignment([a, b, c, d, e], generic_dna)

        You can access a row of the alignment as a SeqRecord using an integer
        index (think of the alignment as a list of SeqRecord objects here):

        >>> first_record = align[0]
        >>> print("%s %s" % (first_record.id, first_record.seq))
        Alpha AAAACGT
        >>> last_record = align[-1]
        >>> print("%s %s" % (last_record.id, last_record.seq))
        Epsilon AAA-GGT

        You can also access use python's slice notation to create a sub-alignment
        containing only some of the SeqRecord objects:

        >>> sub_alignment = align[2:5]
        >>> print(sub_alignment)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 7 columns
        AAAAGGT Gamma
        AAAACGT Delta
        AAA-GGT Epsilon

        This includes support for a step, i.e. align[start:end:step], which
        can be used to select every second sequence:

        >>> sub_alignment = align[::2]
        >>> print(sub_alignment)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 7 columns
        AAAACGT Alpha
        AAAAGGT Gamma
        AAA-GGT Epsilon

        Or to get a copy of the alignment with the rows in reverse order:

        >>> rev_alignment = align[::-1]
        >>> print(rev_alignment)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 5 rows and 7 columns
        AAA-GGT Epsilon
        AAAACGT Delta
        AAAAGGT Gamma
        AAA-CGT Beta
        AAAACGT Alpha

        You can also use two indices to specify both rows and columns. Using simple
        integers gives you the entry as a single character string. e.g.

        >>> align[3, 4]
        'C'

        This is equivalent to:

        >>> align[3][4]
        'C'

        or:

        >>> align[3].seq[4]
        'C'

        To get a single column (as a string) use this syntax:

        >>> align[:, 4]
        'CCGCG'

        Or, to get part of a column,

        >>> align[1:3, 4]
        'CG'

        However, in general you get a sub-alignment,

        >>> print(align[1:5, 3:6])
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 4 rows and 3 columns
        -CG Beta
        AGG Gamma
        ACG Delta
        -GG Epsilon

        This should all seem familiar to anyone who has used the NumPy
        array or matrix objects.
        """
        if isinstance(index, int):
            # e.g. result = align[x]
            # Return a SeqRecord
            return self._records[index]
        elif isinstance(index, slice):
            # e.g. sub_align = align[i:j:k]
            return MultipleSeqAlignment(self._records[index], self._alphabet)
        elif len(index) != 2:
            raise TypeError("Invalid index type.")

        # Handle double indexing
        row_index, col_index = index
        if isinstance(row_index, int):
            # e.g. row_or_part_row = align[6, 1:4], gives a SeqRecord
            return self._records[row_index][col_index]
        elif isinstance(col_index, int):
            # e.g. col_or_part_col = align[1:5, 6], gives a string
            return "".join(rec[col_index] for rec in self._records[row_index])
        else:
            # e.g. sub_align = align[1:4, 5:7], gives another alignment
            return MultipleSeqAlignment((rec[col_index] for rec in self._records[row_index]),
                                        self._alphabet)

    def sort(self, key=None, reverse=False):
        """Sort the rows (SeqRecord objects) of the alignment in place.

        This sorts the rows alphabetically using the SeqRecord object id by
        default. The sorting can be controlled by supplying a key function
        which must map each SeqRecord to a sort value.

        This is useful if you want to add two alignments which use the same
        record identifiers, but in a different order. For example,

        >>> from Bio.Alphabet import generic_dna
        >>> from Bio.Seq import Seq
        >>> from Bio.SeqRecord import SeqRecord
        >>> from Bio.Align import MultipleSeqAlignment
        >>> align1 = MultipleSeqAlignment([
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("ACGT", generic_dna), id="Human"),
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("ACGG", generic_dna), id="Mouse"),
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("ACGC", generic_dna), id="Chicken"),
        ...          ])
        >>> align2 = MultipleSeqAlignment([
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("CGGT", generic_dna), id="Mouse"),
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("CGTT", generic_dna), id="Human"),
        ...              SeqRecord(Seq("CGCT", generic_dna), id="Chicken"),
        ...          ])

        If you simple try and add these without sorting, you get this:

        >>> print(align1 + align2)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 8 columns
        ACGTCGGT <unknown id>
        ACGGCGTT <unknown id>
        ACGCCGCT Chicken

        Consult the SeqRecord documentation which explains why you get a
        default value when annotation like the identifier doesn't match up.
        However, if we sort the alignments first, then add them we get the
        desired result:

        >>> align1.sort()
        >>> align2.sort()
        >>> print(align1 + align2)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 8 columns
        ACGCCGCT Chicken
        ACGTCGTT Human
        ACGGCGGT Mouse

        As an example using a different sort order, you could sort on the
        GC content of each sequence.

        >>> from Bio.SeqUtils import GC
        >>> print(align1)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 4 columns
        ACGC Chicken
        ACGT Human
        ACGG Mouse
        >>> align1.sort(key = lambda record: GC(record.seq))
        >>> print(align1)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 4 columns
        ACGT Human
        ACGC Chicken
        ACGG Mouse

        There is also a reverse argument, so if you wanted to sort by ID
        but backwards:

        >>> align1.sort(reverse=True)
        >>> print(align1)
        DNAAlphabet() alignment with 3 rows and 4 columns
        ACGG Mouse
        ACGT Human
        ACGC Chicken

        """
        if key is None:
            self._records.sort(key=lambda r: r.id, reverse=reverse)
        else:
            self._records.sort(key=key, reverse=reverse)

    def get_column(self, col):
        """Returns a string containing a given column (DEPRECATED).

        This is a method provided for backwards compatibility with the old
        Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment object. Please use the slice notation
        instead, since get_column is likely to be removed in a future release
        of Biopython..
        """
        import warnings
        from Bio import BiopythonDeprecationWarning
        warnings.warn("This method is deprecated and is provided for backwards "
                      "compatibility with the old Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment "
                      "object. Please use the slice notation instead, as "
                      "get_column is likely to be removed in a future release "
                      "of Biopython.", BiopythonDeprecationWarning)
        return _Alignment.get_column(self, col)

    def add_sequence(self, descriptor, sequence, start=None, end=None,
                     weight=1.0):
        """Add a sequence to the alignment (DEPRECATED).

        The start, end, and weight arguments are not supported! This method
        only provides limited backwards compatibility with the old
        Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment object. Please use the append method with
        a SeqRecord instead, since add_sequence is likely to be removed in a
        future release of Biopython.
        """
        import warnings
        from Bio import BiopythonDeprecationWarning
        warnings.warn("The start, end, and weight arguments are not supported! "
                      "This method only provides limited backwards "
                      "compatibility with the old Bio.Align.Generic.Alignment "
                      "object. Please use the append method with a SeqRecord "
                      "instead, as the add_sequence method is likely to be "
                      "removed in a future release of Biopython.",
                      BiopythonDeprecationWarning)
        # Should we handle start/end/strand information somehow? What for?
        # TODO - Should we handle weights somehow? See also AlignInfo code...
        if start is not None or end is not None or weight != 1.0:
            raise ValueError("The add_Sequence method is obsolete, and only "
                             "provides limited backwards compatibily. The"
                             "start, end and weight arguments are not "
                             "supported.")
        self.append(SeqRecord(Seq(sequence, self._alphabet),
                              id=descriptor, description=descriptor))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    from Bio._utils import run_doctest
    run_doctest()