The RNA workbench: Best practices for RNA and high-throughput sequencing bioinformatics in Galaxy

RNA-based regulation has become a major research topic in molecular biology. The analysis of epigenetic and expression data is therefore incomplete if RNA-based regulation is not taken into account. Thus, it is increasingly important but not yet standard to combine RNA-centric data and analysis tools with other types of experimental data such as RNA-seq or ChIP-seq. Here, we present the RNA workbench, a comprehensive set of analysis tools and consolidated workflows that enable the researcher to combine these two worlds. Based on the Galaxy framework the workbench guarantees simple access, easy extension, flexible adaption to personal and security needs, and sophisticated analyses that are independent of command-line knowledge. Currently, it includes more than 50 bioinformatics tools that are dedicated to different research areas of RNA biology including RNA structure analysis, RNA alignment, RNA annotation, RNA-protein interaction, ribosome profiling, RNA-seq analysis and RNA target prediction. The workbench is developed and maintained by experts in RNA bioinformatics and the Galaxy framework. Together with the growing community evolving around this workbench, we are committed to keep the workbench up-to-date for future standards and needs, providing researchers with a reliable and robust framework for RNA data analysis

Whither systems medicine?

New technologies to generate, store and retrieve medical and research data are inducing a rapid change in clinical and translational research and health care. Systems medicine is the interdisciplinary approach wherein physicians and clinical investigators team up with experts from biology, biostatistics, informatics, mathematics and computational modeling to develop methods to use new and stored data to the benefit of the patient. We here provide a critical assessment of the opportunities and challenges arising out of systems approaches in medicine and from this provide a definition of what systems medicine entails. Based on our analysis of current developments in medicine and healthcare and associated research needs, we emphasize the role of systems medicine as a multilevel and multidisciplinary methodological framework for informed data acquisition and interdisciplinary data analysis to extract previously inaccessible knowledge for the benefit of patients.peerReviewe

Protein-coding variants contribute to the risk of atopic dermatitis and skin-specific gene expression.

Background: Fifteen percent of atopic dermatitis (AD) liability-scale heritability could be attributed to 31 susceptibility loci identified by using genome-wide association studies, with only 3 of them (IL13, IL-6 receptor [IL6R], and filaggrin [FLG]) resolved to protein-coding variants.Objective: We examined whether a significant portion of unexplained AD heritability is further explained by low-frequency and rare variants in the gene-coding sequence.Methods: We evaluated common, low-frequency, and rare protein-coding variants using exome chip and replication genotype data of 15,574 patients and 377,839 control subjects combined with whole-transcriptome data on lesional, nonlesional, and healthy skin samples of 27 patients and 38 control subjects.Results: An additional 12.56% (SE, 0.74%) of AD heritability is explained by rare protein-coding variation. We identified docking protein 2 (DOK2) and CD200 receptor 1 (CD200R1) as novel genome-wide significant susceptibility genes. Rare coding variants associated with AD are further enriched in 5 genes (IL-4 receptor [IL4R], IL13, Janus kinase 1 [JAK1], JAK2, and tyrosine kinase 2 [TYK2]) of the IL13 pathway, all of which are targets for novel systemic AD therapeutics. Multiomics-based network and RNA sequencing analysis revealed DOK2 as a central hub interacting with, among others, CD200R1, IL6R, and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). Multitissue gene expression profile analysis for 53 tissue types from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project showed that disease-associated protein-coding variants exert their greatest effect in skin tissues.Conclusion: Our discoveries highlight a major role of rare coding variants in AD acting independently of common variants. Further extensive functional studies are required to detect all potential causal variants and to specify the contribution of the novel susceptibility genes DOK2 and CD200R1 to overall disease susceptibility

Protein-coding variants contribute to the risk of atopic dermatitis and skin-specific gene expression

BACKGROUND: 15% of atopic dermatitis liability-scale heritability could be attributed to 31 susceptibility loci identified by genome-wide association studies, with only three of them (IL13, IL6R, and FLG) resolved to protein-coding variants. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether a significant portion of unexplained atopic dermatitis heritability is further explained by low-frequency and rare variants in gene coding sequence. METHODS: We evaluated common, low-frequency and rare protein-coding variants using exome chip and replication genotype data of 15,574 patients and 377,839 controls, combined with whole transcriptome data on lesional, non-lesional and healthy skin samples of 27 patients and 38 controls. RESULTS: Additional 12.56% (s.e. 0.74%) of atopic dermatitis heritability is explained by rare protein-coding variation. We identified Docking protein 2 (DOK2) and CD200 Receptor 1 (CD200R1) as novel genome-wide significant susceptibility genes. Rare coding variants associated with atopic dermatitis are further enriched in five genes (IL4R, IL13, JAK1, JAK2, TYK2) of the IL13 pathway, all of which are targets for novel systemic atopic dermatitis therapeutics. Multiomics-based network and RNA-Sequencing analysis revealed DOK2 as a central hub interacting, among others, with CD200R1, IL6R and STAT3. Multi-tissue gene expression profile analysis for 53 tissue types from GTEx showed that disease-associated protein-coding variants exert their greatest effect in skin tissues. CONCLUSION: Our discoveries highlight a major role of rare coding variants in atopic dermatitis acting independently of common variants. Further extensive functional studies are required to detect all potential causal variants and to specify the contribution of novel susceptibility genes DOK2 and CD200R1 to overall disease susceptibility