diff --git a/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.py b/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.py
index e5aa7b33656..96d7d47dd30 100644
--- a/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.py
+++ b/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def __main__():
     #Parse Command Line
     options, args = doc_optparse.parse( __doc__ )
     
-    db_build = options.db_build.split( ' ' )[0]
+    db_build = options.db_build
     query_filename = options.input.strip()
     output_filename = options.output.strip()
     mega_word_size = options.word_size        # -W
@@ -62,8 +62,7 @@ def __main__():
         if not line or line.startswith( '#' ):
             continue
         fields = line.split( '\t' )
-        if len( fields ) == 2:
-            db[ fields[0].split( ' ' )[0] ] = fields[1]
+        db[ fields[0] ] = fields[1]
 
     if not db.has_key( db_build ):
         stop_err( 'Cannot locate the target database. Please check your location file.' )
diff --git a/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.xml b/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.xml
index ab6017798c8..b33cfd847d3 100644
--- a/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.xml
+++ b/tools/metag_tools/megablast_wrapper.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 	<description> compare short reads against htgs, nt, and wgs databases</description>
 	<command interpreter="python">
 	  megablast_wrapper.py 
-	   --db_build=$source_select
+	   --db_build="$source_select"
 	   --input=$input_query
 	   --word_size=$word_size
 	   --identity_cutoff=$iden_cutoff