UTAP2: an enhanced user-friendly transcriptome and epigenome analysis pipeline

Abstract

Abstract Background The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) marked a revolution in biological research, enabling comprehensive characterization of the transcriptome and detailed analysis of the epigenome landscape. This technology has made it possible to detect differences across cell types, genotypes, and conditions. Advances in short-read sequencing platforms, have produced user-friendly machines that offer high throughput at a reduced cost per base. However, leveraging this data still requires bioinformatics expertise to develop and execute tailored solutions for each specific application. Democratizing access to sequence analysis tools is crucial to empower researchers from diverse fields to harness the full potential of NGS data. Results UTAP2, our enhanced version of UTAP published version in 2019 (Kohen et al. in BMC Bioinform 20(1):154, 2019), empowers researchers to unlock the mysteries of gene expression and epigenetic modifications with ease. This user-friendly, open-source pipeline, built by unit programmers and deep sequencing analysts, streamlines transcriptome and epigenome data analysis, handling everything from sequences to gene or peak counts and differentially expressed genes or genomic regions annotation. Results are delivered in organized folders and rich reports packed with plots, tables, and links for effortless interpretation. Since the debut of UTAP, it has been embraced by many researchers at the Weizmann Institute and over 100 citations, thus highlighting its scientific contribution. Conclusion Our User-friendly Transcriptome and Epigenome Analysis Pipeline UTAP2 is available to the broader biomedical research community as an open-source installation. With a single image, it can be installed on both local servers and cloud platforms, allowing users to leverage parallel cluster resources. Once installed UTAP2 enables researchers, even those with limited bioinformatics skills to efficiently, accurately and reliably analyse transcriptome and epigenome sequence data.

Keywords

• NGS (next-generation sequencing)
• RNA-seq
• ATAC-seq
• ChIP-seq
• Ribo-Seq
• Differential gene expression