group file problem for read.dist command

Hi there,

I am trying to create single rarefaction curves for subsets of sequences in a single distance matrix. To do this I have created a distance matrix filename.phylip.dist I tell mothur:

read.dist(phylip=filename.phylip.dist)

cluster()

[Mothur creates my .list, .rabund and .sabund files]

read.otu (list=filename.phylip.fn.list, group=file.group)

When I do this I get the error:

“Your groupfile contains more than one sequence named S3, sequence
names must be unique. Please correct.”
“Your groupfile contains more than one sequence named , sequence names
must be unique. Please correct.”
“Your groupfile contains more than one sequence named S4, sequence
names must be unique. Please correct.”
“Your groupfile contains more than one sequence named , sequence names
must be unique. Please correct.”

sequentially… (ie missing a group name every other line)

My group file seems to meet all criteria. Its simply a 2 column tab-delimited text file with the sequence names in the first column and the group names in the second, so I can’t understand why Mothur seems unable to use it. Any thoughts?

Can you see in problem with my Mothur commands or anything else that I may be overlooking?

Thanks a million! Julie Deslippe

Is it possible that you have spaces in your group names? Feel free to email a copy of the group file to mothur.bugs@gmail.com and I can take a look and post what I find.

Pat