aPEAch: Automated Pipeline for End-to-End Analysis of Epigenomic and Transcriptomic Data

Abstract

With the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS), experimental techniques that capture the biological significance of DNA loci or RNA molecules have emerged as fundamental tools for studying the epigenome and transcriptional regulation on a genome-wide scale. The volume of the generated data and the underlying complexity regarding their analysis highlight the need for robust and easy-to-use computational analytic methods that can streamline the process and provide valuable biological insights. Our solution, aPEAch, is an automated pipeline that facilitates the end-to-end analysis of both DNA- and RNA-sequencing assays, including small RNA sequencing, from assessing the quality of the input sample files to answering meaningful biological questions by exploiting the rich information embedded in biological data. Our method is implemented in Python, based on a modular approach that enables users to choose the path and extent of the analysis and the representations of the results. The pipeline can process samples with single or multiple replicates in batches, allowing the ease of use and reproducibility of the analysis across all samples. aPEAch provides a variety of sample metrics such as quality control reports, fragment size distribution plots, and all intermediate output files, enabling the pipeline to be re-executed with different parameters or algorithms, along with the publication-ready visualization of the results. Furthermore, aPEAch seamlessly incorporates advanced unsupervised learning analyses by automating clustering optimization and visualization, thus providing invaluable insight into the underlying biological mechanisms.

Keywords

• next-generation sequencing
• NGS
• RNA-seq
• miRNA-seq
• ATAC-seq
• ChIP-seq