1. RNA-Seq Analysis Pipelines

RNA-seq is one of the most popular techniques for studying RNA. These tools streamline processing raw sequence data:

• FASTQC: For quality control of raw RNA-seq reads.
• Trimmomatic: For trimming and filtering RNA-seq reads.
• HISAT2/STAR: High-performance aligners for RNA-seq reads.
• FeatureCounts: For quantifying gene expression.
• DESeq2/EdgeR: For differential expression analysis.

2. Transcriptome Assembly and Annotation

For analyzing transcriptomes from non-model organisms or assembling novel transcripts:

• Trinity: For de novo transcriptome assembly.
• StringTie: For transcript assembly and quantification from RNA-seq alignments.
• TransDecoder: To predict coding regions within assembled transcripts.
• TAU: Tools for annotating non-coding and coding RNAs.

3. Exploring Non-Coding RNA (ncRNA)

Non-coding RNAs play critical regulatory roles. Dedicated tools for studying them include:

• Infernal: For identifying ncRNA sequences based on covariance models.
• Rfam: Database and tools for ncRNA families.
• miRDeep: For identifying microRNAs in RNA-seq datasets.

4. RNA Structure and Motif Analysis

Structural biology of RNA helps in understanding its function:

• RNAfold (ViennaRNA): Predicts secondary structures from RNA sequences.
• RNAstructure: Tools for RNA secondary structure prediction and analysis.
• MEME Suite: For identifying motifs in RNA sequences.
• IntaRNA: For RNA-RNA interaction prediction.

5. RNA Editing and Modifications

Epitranscriptomics is a growing field focusing on RNA modifications:

• REDItools: For RNA editing analysis.
• m6Aboost: For identifying m6A modifications in RNA.

6. Long-Read RNA Sequencing Analysis

Long-read technologies like Nanopore and PacBio are transforming RNA research:

• FLAIR: For isoform-level analysis of long-read RNA-seq data.
• NanoMod: For detecting modifications in RNA from Nanopore sequencing.

7. RNA-Protein Interactions

To study RNA-protein interactions and complexes:

• RBPmap: For identifying RNA-binding protein motifs.
• PARalyzer: For analyzing PAR-CLIP data.

8. Functional Enrichment Analysis

Understanding biological functions and pathways from RNA-seq data:

• getENRICH: A tool designed for pathway enrichment analysis of non-model organisms (hypergeometric P-value calculation with FDR correction).
• ClusterProfiler: For GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis.

9. Visualization and Data Sharing

Presenting and sharing RNA sequence analysis results effectively:

• IGV: Genome browser for visualizing RNA-seq alignments.
• Circos: Circular visualization of RNA-seq data.
• DashBio: A Python library for creating bioinformatics visualizations.

Conclusion

The bioinformatics landscape for RNA sequence analysis is vast, with tools catering to specific needs. Whether you’re studying coding RNAs, non-coding RNAs, or exploring RNA-protein interactions, the right tools can transform your data into biological insights.

• BigDataScript – A cross-system scripting language for working with big data pipelines in computer systems of different sizes and capabilities. [ paper-2014 | web ]
• Bpipe – A small language for defining pipeline stages and linking them together to make pipelines. [ web ]
• Common Workflow Language – a specification for describing analysis workflows and tools that are portable and scalable across a variety of software and hardware environments, from workstations to cluster, cloud, and high performance computing (HPC) environments. [ web ]
• Cromwell – A Workflow Management System geared towards scientific workflows. [ web ]
• Galaxy – a popular open-source, web-based platform for data intensive biomedical research. Has several features, from data analysis to workflow management to visualization tools. [ paper-2018 | web ]
• Nextflow (recommended) – A fluent DSL modelled around the UNIX pipe concept, that simplifies writing parallel and scalable pipelines in a portable manner. [ paper-2018 | web ]
• Ruffus – Computation Pipeline library for python widely used in science and bioinformatics. [ paper-2010 | web ]
• SeqWare – Hadoop Oozie-based workflow system focused on genomics data analysis in cloud environments. [ paper-2010 | web ]
• Snakemake – A workflow management system in Python that aims to reduce the complexity of creating workflows by providing a fast and comfortable execution environment. [ paper-2018 | web ]
• Workflow Descriptor Language – Workflow standard developed by the Broad. [ web ]

However, nanopore sequencing is an emerging and rapidly developing technology. It is not clear what will be most informative. We hope that IONiseR will provide a framework for visualisation of metrics that we haven’t thought of, and welcome feedback at mike.smith@embl.de.

If you’re not interested in the quality assement of the raw or event level data, and want to jump straight to the getting FASTQ format files from fast5 files you can go straight to the final section of this document.

Address of the bookmark: https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/vignettes/IONiseR/inst/doc/IONiseR.html

ABySS Explorer

Interactive Java application that uses a novel graph-based representation to display a sequence assembly and associated metadata

http://www.bcgsc.ca/platform/bioinfo/software/abyss-explorer

BamView

Genome browser and annotation tool that allows visualization of sequence features, next-generation sequencing (NGS) data and the results of analyses within the context of the sequence, and also its six-frame translation

http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/software/artemis/

DNannotator 

Annotation web toolkit for regional genomic sequences

http://bioapp.psych.uic.edu/DNannotator.htm

JVM 

Java Visual Mapping tool for NGS reads

http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9789401792448-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1487072-p176815501

LookSeq 

Web-based visualization of sequences derived from multiple sequencing technologies. Low- or high-depth read pileups and easy visualization of putative single nucleotide and structural variation

http://lookseq.sourceforge.net

MagicViewer 

Visualization of short read alignment, identification of genetic variation and association with annotation information of a reference genome

http://bioinformatics.zj.cn/magicviewer/

MapView 

Alignments of huge-scale single-end and pair-end short reads

http://omictools.com/mapview-s1367.html

MultiPipMaker

Computes alignments of similar regions in two DNA sequences. The resulting alignments are summarized with a ‘percent identity plot’ (pip)

http://pipmaker.bx.psu.edu/pipmaker/

PileLineGUI 

Handling genome position files in NGS studies

http://sing.ei.uvigo.es/pileline/pilelinegui.html

SAMtools tview 

Simple and fast text alignment viewer; NGS compatible

http://www.htslib.org/

SEWAL

Uses a locality-sensitive hashing algorithm to enumerate all unique sequences in an entire Illumina sequencing run

http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/sewal

STAR 

A web-based integrated solution to management and visualization of sequencing data

http://wanglab.ucsd.edu/star/browser

SVA 

Software for annotating and visualizing sequenced human genomes

http://www.svaproject.org

Viewer (IGV) 

Visualization of large heterogeneous datasets, providing a smooth and intuitive user experience at all levels of genome resolution

https://www.broadinstitute.org/igv/

ZOOM Lite 

NGS data mapping and visualization software

http://bioinfor.com/zoom/lite/

Take a look at the PRICE software from the DeRisi lab. Its meant to do something very similar. http://derisilab.ucsf.edu/index.php?page=software

You could also look at SSPACE (http://www.baseclear.com/landingpages/basetools-a-wide-range-of-bioinformatics-solutions/sspacev12/), ATLAS tools (http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/content/bcm-hgsc-software), and SCARPA (http://compbio.cs.toronto.edu/hapsembler/scarpa.html).

See the PAGIT protocol: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/software/pagit/

In particular, take a look at the IMAGE tool: http://genomebiology.com/2010/11/4/R41

Also SOAPdenovo has ha function for scaffolding. Not sure about ABYSS

Here there is a useful explanation of several tools.

https://bioinformaticsonline.com/search?q=scaffolding&entity_type=object&entity_subtype=bookmarks&offset=0&search_type=entities

I could be wrong, but the above answers to your hypothetical scenario appear to miss the point that you aren't interested in assembling the full genome, just the 100 kb part you're interested in. I suggest the following algorithm:

1. Start with the initial assembly C0 of the contigs you have identified as overlapping your region of interest, and the set S of reads those contigs contain. Let C = C0.

2. Repeat:
a. Identify paired-end reads (not in C) for which one or both ends align within, or extending, contigs in C.
b. Identify unpaired reads that align extending these new paired-end reads.
c. Construct a new assembly C' from C and the new reads identified in (a) and (b).
d. Trim C' so it does not extend more than 100 kb to either end of C0. Set C = C'.
e. Let S' denote the reads that contribute to C'. If S' does not contain any reads not present in S, stop. Otherwise, Set S = S'.

3. If you don't have a complete assembly of the region of interest, generate an STS for each end of each contig, probe a library for clones including these STSes, subclone these clones into a paired-end sequencing vector, and generate paired-end reads for this library; then try steps (1) and (2) again, adding these new sequencing reads to what you had before.

4. If your average sequencing depth for the region of interest exceeds 25 or so without filling all gaps, it is likely that the remaining gaps represent sequences that are not getting cloned in your sequencing vectors. Try different sequencing vectors.

I have used the following assemblers

• Spades (v. 3.10.1)
• CANU (v. 1.6)
• Unicycler (v. v0.4.1)
• Miniasm (v. 0.2-r137-dirty)

I have used the following mappers

• minimap2 (v. 2.0rc1-r232)
• minimap (v. 0.2-r124-dirty)
• bwa (v. 0.7.12-r1039)

I have used the following polishing tools

• Racon (v. not available)
• Pilon (v. 1.18)
• Nanopolish (v. 0.8.3)

I have used the following tools to assess genome assembly characteristics

• ANI.pl (https://github.com/chjp/ANI)
• CheckM (v. 1.0.7)
• Prokka (v. 1.12)
• QUAST (v. 2.3)
• mummer (v. not available)

If you have any ideas or superior tools we have missed please let us know in the comments.

More at https://dahak-metagenomics.github.io/dahak/

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/dahak-metagenomics/dahak

Reference:

https://www.pacb.com/blog/young-investigators-share-stellar-science-career-advice-and-bioinformatics-tools-at-smrt-leiden-2021/