diff --git a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
index 70597e2bcb..ff6cd03b21 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
@@ -6863,11 +6863,6 @@ (define-public vsearch
            (delete-file "src/city.cc")
            #t))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
-    (arguments
-     `(#:phases
-       (modify-phases %standard-phases
-         (add-after 'unpack 'autogen
-           (lambda _ (zero? (system* "autoreconf" "-vif")))))))
     (inputs
      `(("zlib" ,zlib)
        ("bzip2" ,bzip2)