Welcome to Tandem Repeats Finder

To get started, choose a tab above. This website offers:

• An online tool for running TRF on your own sequences with simple or advanced TRF options.
• Definitions and help information for TRF.
• An explanation of how the TRF algorithm works.
• A repository of downloadable TRF executables, precompiled for various platforms.
• A link to the TRF Github repository for the open source version of TRF.
• A link to the Tandem Repeats Database (TRDB), which allows users to run sequences and analyze and save their results, with many added features not available on this website.

Updates:
October 20, 2022:
TRF website has been redesigned and modernized using python and flask software.

June 28, 2020:
TRF software is now open source. Code and executable versions are available on Github. See tabs above.

Feb 22, 2016 update:
TRF Version 4.09 released. This version fixes issues with centromeres in HG38. See a full list of changes on the What's New tab.

A tandem repeat in DNA is two or more adjacent, approximate copies of a pattern of nucleotides. Tandem Repeats Finder is a program to locate and display tandem repeats in DNA sequences. In order to use the program, the user submits a sequence in FASTA format. There is no need to specify the pattern, the size of the pattern or any other parameter. The output consists of two files: a repeat table file and an alignment file. The repeat table contains information about each repeat, including its location, size, number of copies and nucleotide content. Clicking on the location indices for one of the table entries opens a second web browser that shows an alignment of the copies against a consensus pattern. The program is very fast, analyzing sequences on the order of .5Mb in just a few seconds. Submitted sequences may be of arbitrary length. Repeats with pattern size in the range from 1 to 2000 bases are detected. Sequence information sent to the server is confidential and deleted after program execution. Example of output.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CCR-9623532

Last revised October 20, 2022 Send any questions or comments to: Gary Benson