Web-based analysis of (Epi-) genome data using EpiGRAPH and Galaxy

Methods Mol Biol. 2010:628:275-96. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-367-1_15.

Abstract

Modern life sciences are becoming increasingly data intensive, posing a significant challenge for most researchers and shifting the bottleneck of scientific discovery from data generation to data analysis. As a result, progress in genome research is increasingly impeded by bioinformatic hurdles. A new generation of powerful and easy-to-use genome analysis tools has been developed to address this issue, enabling biologists to perform complex bioinformatic analyses online - without having to learn a programming language or downloading and manually processing large datasets. In this tutorial paper, we describe the use of EpiGRAPH (http://epigraph.mpi-inf.mpg.de/) and Galaxy (http://galaxyproject.org/) for genome and epigenome analysis, and we illustrate how these two web services work together to identify epigenetic modifications that are characteristics of highly polymorphic (SNP-rich) promoters. This paper is supplemented with video tutorials (http://tinyurl.com/yc5xkqq), which provide a step-by-step guide through each example analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Methylation
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Genomics / methods*
  • Internet
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Software*