diff --git a/gffquant/__init__.py b/gffquant/__init__.py
index f3a023d6..0f42e1ec 100644
--- a/gffquant/__init__.py
+++ b/gffquant/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from enum import Enum, auto, unique
 
 
-__version__ = "2.18.5"
+__version__ = "2.18.6"
 __tool__ = "gffquant"
 
 
diff --git a/gffquant/annotation/count_annotator.py b/gffquant/annotation/count_annotator.py
index feb96b92..d47b2e40 100644
--- a/gffquant/annotation/count_annotator.py
+++ b/gffquant/annotation/count_annotator.py
@@ -286,6 +286,8 @@ def annotate(self, refmgr, db, count_manager, gene_group_db=False):
             if self.strand_specific else None
         )
 
+        grouped_counts = {}
+
         for rid in set(count_manager.uniq_seqcounts).union(
             count_manager.ambig_seqcounts
         ):
@@ -305,24 +307,28 @@ def annotate(self, refmgr, db, count_manager, gene_group_db=False):
             if gene_group_db:
                 ref_tokens = ref.split(".")
                 gene_id, ggroup_id = ".".join(ref_tokens[:-1]), ref_tokens[-1]
+                grouped_counts.setdefault(ggroup_id, np.zeros(self.bins))
+                grouped_counts[ggroup_id] += counts
             else:
-                ggroup_id, gene_id = ref, ref
+                gene_id = ref
+                region_annotation = db.query_sequence(gene_id)
+                if region_annotation is not None:
+                    _, _, region_annotation = region_annotation
+                    self.distribute_feature_counts(counts, region_annotation)
+                else:
+                    self.unannotated_counts += counts[:4]
 
             gcounts = self.gene_counts.setdefault(gene_id, np.zeros(self.bins))
             gcounts += counts
             self.total_gene_counts += counts[:4]
 
-            region_annotation = db.query_sequence(ggroup_id)
-            if region_annotation is not None:
-                _, _, region_annotation = region_annotation
-                # logger.info(
-                #     "GCAnnotator: Distributing counts of Gene %s (group=%s) %s %s",
-                #     gene_id, ggroup_id, counts[0], counts[2],
-                # )
-                self.distribute_feature_counts(counts, region_annotation)
-
-            else:
-                # logger.info("GCAnnotator: Gene %s (group=%s) has no information in database.", gene_id, ggroup_id)
+        for group_id, counts in grouped_counts.items():
+            if group_id == "0":
                 self.unannotated_counts += counts[:4]
+            else:
+                region_annotation = db.query_sequence(int(group_id, 16), grouped_db=True,)
+                if region_annotation is not None:
+                    _, _, region_annotation = region_annotation
+                    self.distribute_feature_counts(counts, region_annotation)
 
         self.calculate_scaling_factors()
diff --git a/gffquant/db/annotation_db.py b/gffquant/db/annotation_db.py
index 6623a444..c9615b5c 100644
--- a/gffquant/db/annotation_db.py
+++ b/gffquant/db/annotation_db.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ def from_db(cls, db_path, in_memory=True):
         return SQL_ADM(db_path)
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None):
+    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None, grouped_db=False,):
         ...
 
     @abstractmethod
@@ -59,17 +59,22 @@ def get_features(self, category_id):
     def get_categories(self):
         ...
 
-    def query_sequence(self, seqid, start=None, end=None):
+    def query_sequence(self, seqid, start=None, end=None, grouped_db=False,):
         """ Returns strand, seq-feature id (e.g. contig id), functional categories """
-        db_sequence = self.query_sequence_internal(seqid, start=start, end=end)
+        db_sequence = self.query_sequence_internal(seqid, start=start, end=end, grouped_db=grouped_db,)
 
         if db_sequence is None:
             return None
+
+        strand = getattr(db_sequence, "strand", None)
+        featureid = getattr(db_sequence, "feature_id", None)
+
         categories = tuple()
         for cat_features in db_sequence.annotation_str.strip().split(";"):
             category, features = cat_features.split("=")
             categories += ((category, tuple(feature.strip() for feature in features.split(",") if feature.strip())),)
-        return db_sequence.strand, db_sequence.featureid, categories
+
+        return strand, featureid, categories
 
     @abstractmethod
     def query_feature(self, feature_id):
@@ -192,8 +197,12 @@ def __init__(self, db_path):
         super().__init__()
         self.db_session = db_path
 
-    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None):
-        if start is not None and end is not None:
+    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None, grouped_db=False,):
+        if grouped_db:
+            db_sequence = self.db_session.query(db.AnnotationGroup) \
+                .filter(db.AnnotationGroup.id == seqid) \
+                .one_or_none()  
+        elif start is not None and end is not None:
             db_sequence = self.db_session.query(db.AnnotatedSequence) \
                 .filter(db.AnnotatedSequence.seqid == seqid) \
                 .filter((db.AnnotatedSequence.start == start) & (db.AnnotatedSequence.end == end)).one_or_none()
@@ -229,7 +238,7 @@ def __init__(self, db_path):
         super().__init__()
         self.db = db_path
 
-    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None):
+    def query_sequence_internal(self, seqid, start=None, end=None, grouped_db=False,):
         if start is not None and end is not None:
             seqs = [
                 seq
diff --git a/gffquant/db/models/db.py b/gffquant/db/models/db.py
index bcff37d6..04187cb2 100644
--- a/gffquant/db/models/db.py
+++ b/gffquant/db/models/db.py
@@ -8,6 +8,16 @@
 from .meta import Base
 
 
+class AnnotationGroup(Base):
+    __tablename__ = "annotation_group"
+
+    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
+    id16 = Column(String, index=True)
+    annotation_str = Column(String)
+    n_members = Column(Integer)
+    sha256 = Column(String)
+
+
 class AnnotationString(Base):
     __tablename__ = "annotationstring"