Editing the (Tran)Script: Probabilistic Approach for Identifying RNA Editing Sites in MRNA Sequencing Data

• Activity Number: 476
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): William Johnson*+
• Companies: Boston University
• Keywords: RNA-seq ; RNA editing ; Sequence alignment

Abstract

RNA editing is a necessary cellular process where certain site-specific nucleotides of an RNA sequence are switched from one base to another. Editing is a common phenomenon in eukaryotic cells, and its dysfunction can lead to severe adverse effects in the cell. In this research, we present a novel computational approach for the genome-wide profiling RNA editing sites in sequencing data. We utilize a novel probabilistic alignment algorithm which allows for editing events in the reads, as well as integrates base quality information into the mapping process to help resolve the differences between poor quality bases and ambiguity inherent to RNA editing. Once the reads are aligned to the genome, we then determine significant editing sites using a a likelihood ratio testing approach.