riboWaltz: Optimization of ribosome P-site positioning in ribosome profiling data

PLoS Comput Biol. 2018 Aug 13;14(8):e1006169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006169. eCollection 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Ribosome profiling is a powerful technique used to study translation at the genome-wide level, generating unique information concerning ribosome positions along RNAs. Optimal localization of ribosomes requires the proper identification of the ribosome P-site in each ribosome protected fragment, a crucial step to determine the trinucleotide periodicity of translating ribosomes, and draw correct conclusions concerning where ribosomes are located. To determine the P-site within ribosome footprints at nucleotide resolution, the precise estimation of its offset with respect to the protected fragment is necessary. Here we present riboWaltz, an R package for calculation of optimal P-site offsets, diagnostic analysis and visual inspection of ribosome profiling data. Compared to existing tools, riboWaltz shows improved accuracies for P-site estimation and neat ribosome positioning in multiple case studies. riboWaltz was implemented in R and is available as an R package at https://github.com/LabTranslationalArchitectomics/RiboWaltz.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / methods
  • Protein Biosynthesis / physiology
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Ribosomes / metabolism
  • Ribosomes / physiology*
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA / methods*
  • Software

Substances

  • RNA, Messenger