Title: CRABS – A software program to generate curated reference databases for metabarcoding sequencing data

Running title: Creating reference databases for amplicon-based sequencing

Gert-Jan Jeunen¹, Eddy Dowle¹, Jonika Edgecombe¹, Ulla von Ammon², Neil J. Gemmell¹, Hugh Cross^1,3

¹ Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.

² Coastal and Freshwater Group, Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand.

³National Ecological Observatory Network, 1685 38^­th Street, Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.

Corresponding author: Dr. Gert-Jan Jeunen

Department of Anatomy

University of Otago

Dunedin 9016

New Zealand