diff --git a/olctools/databasesetup/get_rmlst.py b/olctools/databasesetup/get_rmlst.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/olctools/databasesetup/get_rmlst.py
+++ b/olctools/databasesetup/get_rmlst.py
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ class Get(object):
                     # Remove and dashes or 'N's from the sequence data - makeblastdb can't handle sequences
                     # with gaps
                     # noinspection PyProtectedMember
-                    record.seq._data = record.seq._data.replace('-', '').replace('N', '')
+                    try:
+                        record.seq._data = record.seq._data.replace('-', '').replace('N', '')
+                    except TypeError:
+                        record.seq._data = record.seq._data.replace(b'-', b'').replace(b'N', b'')
                     # Clear the name and description attributes of the record
                     record.name = ''
                     record.description = ''
Added try/except if the sequence data is bytes-encoded