A practical, bioinformatic workflow system for large data sets generated by next-generation sequencing
Abstract
Transcriptomics (at the level of single cells, tissues and/or whole organisms) underpins many fields of biomedical science, from understanding the basic cellular function in model organisms, to the elucidation of the biological events that govern the development and progression of human diseases, and the exploration of the mechanisms of survival, drug-resistance and virulence of pathogens. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are contributing to a massive expansion of transcriptomics in all fields and are reducing the cost, time and performance barriers presented by conventional approaches. However, bioinformatic tools for the analysis of the sequence data sets produced by these technologies can be daunting to researchers with limited or no expertise in bioinformatics. Here, we constructed a semi-automated, bioinformatic workflow system, and critically evaluated it for the analysis and annotation of large-scale sequence data sets generated by NGS. We demonstrated its utility for the exploration of differences in the transcriptomes among various stages and both sexes of an economically important parasitic worm (Oesophagostomum dentatum) as well as the prediction and prioritization of essential molecules (including GTPases, protein kinases and phosphatases) as novel drug target candidates. This workflow system provides a practical tool for the assembly, annotation and analysis of NGS data sets, also to researchers with a limited bioinformatic expertise. The custom-written Perl, Python and Unix shell computer scripts used can be readily modified or adapted to suit many different applications. This system is now utilized routinely for the analysis of data sets from pathogens of major socio-economic importance and can, in principle, be applied to transcriptomics data sets from any organism.
Additional Information
© The Author(s) 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Received June 2, 2010; Revised July 11, 2010; Accepted July 15, 2010. Staff at WormBase are gratefully acknowledged. The Austrian Ministry for Science and Research approved the animal experimentation (BMWF-68.205/0103-II/10b/2008) and is also acknowledged. C.C. is in receipt of an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from the Australian Government and a fee-remission scholarship from The University of Melbourne as well as the Clunies Ross (2008) and Sue Newton (2009) awards from the School of Veterinary Science of the same university. Funding: The Australian Research Council; Australian Academy of Science; the Australian-American Fulbright Commission (to R.B.G.); National Human Genome Research Institute and National Institutes of Health (to M.M.).Attached Files
Published - Cantacessi2010p11548Nucleic_Acids_Res.pdf
Supplemental Material - NAR-01194-Met-N-2010_R1_Legends_to_supplementary_material.doc
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_Figure_1.ppt
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_Figure_2_R1.ppt
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_Figure_3_R1.ppt
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_Figure_4_R1.ppt
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_data_file_1_R1.doc
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_data_file_2.xls
Supplemental Material - Supplementary_data_file_3.xls
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:bff1e93feb192ba65ec9d3aee56283af
|
452.6 kB | Download |
md5:30bda22fd9b28696d2e27c439b10651e
|
85.5 kB | Download |
md5:7a07eb5e5562aeec1111d33ab04ab963
|
35.8 kB | Download |
md5:7a45dce71b2845a4807f01087433194d
|
379.9 kB | Download |
md5:4258703beaa2562dabc2fc04ebef41a0
|
178.4 kB | Preview Download |
md5:570bb339de9f5fbe379d24647b328090
|
47.6 kB | Download |
md5:956217f8c6b2e596b1bd3aeef8e4e69e
|
1.6 MB | Download |
md5:3d595a49f1cf07cfd997b48bdfaadc7a
|
457.2 kB | Download |
md5:2f40ea57192b2d98da9b914dec46a756
|
5.7 MB | Download |
Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC2943614
- Eprint ID
- 20463
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20101021-094944627
- Australian Research Council
- Australian Academy of Science
- Australian-American Fulbright Commission
- National Human Genome Research Institute
- NIH
- Australian Government
- University of Melbourne
- School of Veterinary Science of the University of Melbourne
- Created
-
2010-11-29Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field