diff --git a/blast/parallel_BLAST/LA_Wrapper b/blast/parallel_BLAST/LA_Wrapper
index 1035ae738bcfc17d0d41cacd296eb7c4324719bc..9830e3d43bd0403630a1727f0460f405fa8db6ae 100755
--- a/blast/parallel_BLAST/LA_Wrapper
+++ b/blast/parallel_BLAST/LA_Wrapper
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ done
 
 ### get query and database files
 FASTA=$_arg_fasta
-DATABASE=$_arg_database
+DATABASE=$(realpath $_arg_database)
 
 ### check if query & database exist
 if [[ $_arg_test == "off" ]] && [ ! -e "$FASTA" ]; then