BOL: Related items

PG2: Making Pangenome Graphs Easier to Understand

Jitendra Narayan — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 04:38:23 -0500

Genomics is moving beyond the traditional approach of studying DNA using a single reference genome. Today, researchers are increasingly using pangenomes, which represent genetic information from multiple genomes and capture a much broader range of genetic diversity.

However, pangenome graphs can be highly complex, making them difficult to visualize and interpret. A recent study published in BMC Bioinformatics introduces PG2 (PanGenoGrapher), an open-source, web-based tool designed to address this challenge. The source code and user guide are openly available on GitHub at https://github.com/iVis-at-Bilkent/pangenographer. A publicly accessible sample deployment is hosted at http://pg2.cs.bilkent.edu.tr. In addition, a demonstration video illustrating the primary use cases of PG2 is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCd7-aGY6CQ.

PG2 combines advanced graph-layout algorithms with an interactive visualization platform. It allows researchers to explore genomic paths, identify variations, and examine relationships between different parts of a pangenome graph more easily.

This is important because visualization can play a major role in bioinformatics. When complex genomic information is presented clearly, researchers can more easily identify patterns, understand genetic variation, and generate new biological insights.

The development of PG2 represents a step toward making pangenome analysis more accessible and intuitive. As genomic datasets continue to grow and graph-based representations become more common, tools like PG2 can help researchers navigate this increasing complexity.

Ultimately, PG2 demonstrates how combining genomics, graph algorithms, and interactive visualization can make sophisticated biological data easier to understand and analyze.

Reference: Solun, G. K., Dogrusoz, U., Bingöl, Z., & Alkan, C. (2026). PG2: algorithms and a web-based tool for effective layout and visual analysis of pangenome graphs. BMC Bioinformatics. DOI: 10.1186/s12859-026-06555-4.

The Atlas of Nine Billion Possibilities

Jitendra Narayan — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 02:07:58 -0500

Imagine a book that holds all the instructions for building a human, made up of billions of letters. What if you changed just one letter? Maybe nothing would happen. Or that tiny change could affect how a gene works, quietly shaping a cell’s biology or even helping cause disease.

Scientists face a big challenge with the human genome. They can read its letters, but understanding their roles is much harder. Only about 2 percent of the genome codes for proteins. The rest acts like a huge control panel, deciding when and where genes turn on. With about 9 billion possible single-letter changes, testing them all in a lab just isn’t possible.

So, Google DeepMind asked a new question: what if we could predict what those changes might do?

This question led to the AlphaGenome Atlas (https://deepmind.google.com/science/alphagenome/atlas?), a detailed map of nearly every possible single-letter change in the human genome. Instead of checking each change one by one, researchers can use the Atlas to spot the ones most likely to matter. The AlphaGenome Variant Impact (AVI) score works like a trail marker, pointing scientists toward the changes worth a closer look.

This is where the Atlas gets especially useful. Much of the genome lies outside the protein-coding regions, where DNA acts as a switch or controller for genes. AlphaGenome lets researchers explore these areas and see how small changes could affect gene activity.

An atlas isn't the destination; it's a guide.

The AlphaGenome Atlas doesn’t replace experiments or solve every mystery. Instead, it helps scientists decide where to begin. From billions of possibilities, it turns the vast genetic landscape into something researchers can start to explore.

There are nine billion possibilities, a vast map, and maybe among them therWith nine billion possibilities and a huge map to explore, there may be clues hidden here to some of medicine’s toughest mysteries.

More at https://storage.googleapis.com/deepmind-media/DeepMind.com/Blog/alphagenome-atlas-a-predictive-map-of-every-possible-dna-letter-change-in-the-human-genome/alphagenome-atlas.pdf

MashMap: a fast and approximate software for mapping long reads (PacBio/ONT) or assembly to reference genome(s)

Jit — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:23:31 -0600

MashMap is a fast and approximate software for mapping long reads (PacBio/ONT) or assembly to reference genome(s). It maps a query sequence against a reference region if and only if its estimated alignment identity is above a specified threshold. It does not compute the alignments explicitly, but rather estimates a k-mer based Jaccard similarity using a combination of Winnowing and MinHash. This is then converted to an estimate of sequence identity using the Mash distance. An appropriate k-mer sampling rate is automatically determined given minimum local alignment length and identity thresholds. The efficiency of the algorithm improves as both of these thresholds are increased.

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/marbl/MashMap

Breakpointer: using local mapping artifacts to support sequence breakpoint discovery from single-end reads

Jit — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:41:10 -0500

Breakpointer is a fast tool for locating sequence breakpoints from the alignment of single end reads (SE) produced by next generation sequencing (NGS). It adopts a heuristic method in searching for local mapping signatures created by insertion/deletions (indels) or more complex structural variants(SVs).

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/ruping/Breakpointer

OMTools: a software package for visualizing and processing optical mapping data

BioJoker — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 01:21:54 -0500

OMTools, an efficient and intuitive data processing and visualization suite to handle and explore large-scale optical mapping profiles. OMTools includes modules for visualization (OMView), data processing and simulation. These modules together form an accessible and convenient pipeline for optical mapping analyses.

https://github.com/TF-Chan-Lab/OMTools

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/TF-Chan-Lab/OMTools

segemehl

Anjana — Tue, 10 May 2016 08:10:15 -0500

segemehl is a software to map short sequencer reads to reference genomes. Unlike other methods, segemehl is able to detect not only mismatches but also insertions and deletions. Furthermore, segemehl is not limited to a specific read length and is able to map primer- or polyadenylation contaminated reads correctly. segemehl implements a matching strategy based on enhanced suffix arrays (ESA).

More at http://www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/Software/segemehl/

Manual http://www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/Software/segemehl/segemehl_manual_0_1_7.pdf

Address of the bookmark: http://hoffmann.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/LIFE/segemehl.html

Mapping NGS

Abhimanyu Singh — Tue, 02 May 2017 07:58:07 -0500

NGS data are just a bunch of sequences, you have no idea which region in the genome each sequences comes from, which gene it represents...
To know that you have to align the sequences to the reference sequence. The reference sequence is in most cases the full genome sequence but sometimes, a library of EST sequences is used.
In either way, aligning your sequence reads to the reference sequence is called mapping.

The most used mappers of DNA-seq data are BWA and Bowtie for DNA-Seq data and Tophat, STAR or HISAT for RNA-Seq data. Mappers differ in which options they can take in, how fast and how accurate they are. Bowtie is faster than BWA, but looses some sensitivity (does not map an equal amount of reads to the correct position in the genome).

Address of the bookmark: http://wiki.bits.vib.be/index.php/Mapping_of_NGS_data

FUMA GWAS: Functional Mapping and Annotation of Genome-Wide Association Studies

Jit — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 03:11:16 -0500

FUMA is a platform that can be used to annotate, prioritize, visualize and interpret GWAS results.
The SNP2GENE function takes GWAS summary statistics as an input, and provides extensive functional annotation for all SNPs in genomic areas identified by lead SNPs.
The GENE2FUNC function takes a list of gene IDs (as identified by SNP2GENE or as provided manually) and annotates genes in biological context

Address of the bookmark: https://fuma.ctglab.nl/

Should you get sequenced? Not all bad genes predict disease

Rahul Agarwal — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 15:10:53 -0500

“What we really don’t know yet is whether the predictive aspects of the genome are going to turn out to be beneficial or potentially harmful”

“As we roll out genomic medicine we are fighting against this society-wide misconception that having the bad gene means you’re going to get the disease. That’s only true in a very few cases.”

Source:Today Health

Address of the bookmark: http://www.today.com/health/should-you-get-sequenced-not-all-bad-genes-predict-disease-8C11017154

Two major breakthrough!!

Rahul Agarwal — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 10:18:11 -0500

"Scientists in Uruguay in colloboration with European partners sequenced the genome of the high-value Tannat grape, from which "the most healthy of red wines" are fermented.

A quick, $1 syphilis test in development by researchers from UNU-BIOLAC."

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130902101846.htm

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-09/tca-ssg082613.php