diff --git a/src/neptune/JobManagerParallel.py b/src/neptune/JobManagerParallel.py
index 6a26233..60967b9 100644
--- a/src/neptune/JobManagerParallel.py
+++ b/src/neptune/JobManagerParallel.py
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ def createDatabaseJob(
 
             for line in inputFile:
 
-                if line[0] == ">":
+                if line.startswith(">"):
                     aggregatedFile.write(">" + str(ID) + "\n")
 
                 else: