Transcriptome profiling by RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of genetically segregating populations is widely used to investigate the regulatory programme of gene expression and its downstream phenotypic consequences. We address analytical challenges of RNA-Seq experiments in multi-parent populations (MPPs) that are derived from two or more inbred founder strains. Genotyping arrays or low-coverage DNA sequencing are commonly used to detect founder strain variants and to reconstruct the founder haplotype mosaic of MPP individuals. We propose and evaluate a new method, Genome reconstruction by RNA-Seq (GBRS), that simultaneously reconstructs individual diploid genomes and quantifies total and allele-specific expression directly from RNA-Seq data. We demonstrate that there is sufficient information in the genetic variants revealed in RNA-Seq data to reconstruct MPP haplotypes. Unlike existing RNA-seq-based genotyping methods, GBRS exploits multi-way allele-specific expression and jointly use closely neighboring variants. GBRS haplotype reconstructions have accuracy comparable to array-based reconstructions. GBRS provides RNA-Seq quantification that is tailored to individual genomes and does not suffer from biases that can arise when using reference genome alignment. GBRS also provides a quality control for detecting sample mix-ups and can improve power to detect expression quantitative trait loci. GBRS software is freely available at https://github.com/churchill-lab/gbrs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.