re = /^(\S+)[^\S\r\n]+/m
str = 'GAXI01000525.151.1950 Eukaryota;Opisthokonta;Holozoa;Metazoa (Animalia);Eumetazoa;Bilateria;Arthropoda;Hexapoda;Ellipura;Collembola;Tetrodontophora bielanensis (giant springtail)
GAXI01000526.151.1950 Eukaryota;Opisthokonta;Holozoa;Metazoa (Animalia);Eumetazoa;Bilateria;Arthropoda;Hexapoda;Ellipura;Collembola;Tetrodontophora bielanensis (giant springtail)
GAXI01005455.1.1233 Bacteria;Bacteroidetes;Flavobacteriia;Flavobacteriales;Flavobacteriaceae;Chryseobacterium;Tetrodontophora bielanensis (giant springtail)
GAXI01006199.29.1525 Bacteria;Chlamydiae;Chlamydiae;Chlamydiales;Simkaniaceae;Candidatus Rhabdochlamydia;Tetrodontophora bielanensis (giant springtail)'
subst = '$1;'
result = str.gsub(re, subst)
# Print the result of the substitution
puts result
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html