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This function computes empirical cumulative distribution functions (eCDF) for per-read beta values of the sequencing reads.

Usage

generateBedEcdf(
  bam,
  bed,
  bed.type = c("amplicon", "capture"),
  bed.rows = c(1),
  zero.based.bed = FALSE,
  match.tolerance = 1,
  match.min.overlap = 1,
  ecdf.context = c("CG", "CHG", "CHH", "CxG", "CX"),
  ...,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

bam

BAM file location string OR preprocessed output of preprocessBam function. Read more about BAM file requirements and BAM preprocessing at preprocessBam.

bed

Browser Extensible Data (BED) file location string OR object of class GRanges holding genomic coordinates for regions of interest. It is used to match sequencing reads to the genomic regions prior to eCDF computation. The style of seqlevels of BED file/object must match the style of seqlevels of the BAM file/object used.

bed.type

character string for the type of assay that was used to produce sequencing reads:

  • "amplicon" (the default) – used for amplicon-based next-generation sequencing when exact coordinates of sequenced fragments are known. Matching of reads to genomic ranges are then performed by the read's start or end positions, either of which should be no further than `match.tolerance` bases away from the start or end position of genomic ranges given in BED file/GRanges object

  • "capture" – used for capture-based next-generation sequencing when reads partially overlap with the capture target regions. Read is considered to match the genomic range when their overlap is more or equal to `match.min.overlap`. If read matches two or more BED genomic regions, only the first match is taken (input GRanges are not sorted internally)

bed.rows

integer vector specifying what `bed` regions should be included in the output. If `c(1)` (the default), then function returns eCDFs for the first region of `bed`, if NULL - eCDF functions for all `bed` genomic regions as well as for the reads that didn't match any of the regions (last element of the return value; only if there are such reads).

zero.based.bed

boolean defining if BED coordinates are zero based (default: FALSE).

match.tolerance

integer for the largest difference between read's and BED GRanges start or end positions during matching of amplicon-based NGS reads (default: 1).

match.min.overlap

integer for the smallest overlap between read's and BED GRanges start or end positions during matching of capture-based NGS reads (default: 1). If read matches two or more BED genomic regions, only the first match is taken (input GRanges are not sorted internally).

ecdf.context

string defining cytosine methylation context used for computing within-the-context and out-of-context eCDFs:

  • "CG" (the default) – within-the-context: CpG cytosines (called as zZ), out-of-context: all the other cytosines (hHxX)

  • "CHG" – within-the-context: CHG cytosines (xX), out-of-context: hHzZ

  • "CHH" – within-the-context: CHH cytosines (hH), out-of-context: xXzZ

  • "CxG" – within-the-context: CG and CHG cytosines (zZxX), out-of-context: CHH cytosines (hH)

  • "CX" – all cytosines are considered within-the-context

...

other parameters to pass to the preprocessBam function. Options have no effect if preprocessed BAM data was supplied as an input.

verbose

boolean to report progress and timings (default: TRUE).

Value

list with a number of elements equal to the length of `bed.rows` (if not NULL), or to the number of genomic regions within `bed` (if `bed.rows==NULL`) plus one item for all reads not matching `bed` genomic regions (if any). Every list item is a list on it's own, consisting of two eCDF functions for within- and out-of-context per-read beta values.

Details

The function matches reads (for paired-end sequencing alignment files - read pairs as a single entity) to the genomic regions provided in a BED file/GRanges object, computes average per-read beta values according to the cytosine context parameter `ecdf.context`, and returns a list of eCDFs for within- and out-of-context average per-read beta values, which can be used for plotting.

The resulting eCDFs and their plots can be used to characterise the methylation pattern of a particular genomic region, e.g. if reads that match to that region are methylated in an "all-CpGs-or-none" manner or if some intermediate methylation levels are more frequent.

See also

preprocessBam for preloading BAM data, generateCytosineReport for methylation statistics at the level of individual cytosines, generateBedReport for genomic region-based statistics, generateVcfReport for evaluating epiallele-SNV associations, extractPatterns for exploring methylation patterns and plotPatterns for pretty plotting of its output, and `epialleleR` vignettes for the description of usage and sample data.

Examples

  # amplicon data
  amplicon.bam <- system.file("extdata", "amplicon010meth.bam",
                              package="epialleleR")
  amplicon.bed <- system.file("extdata", "amplicon.bed",
                              package="epialleleR")
  
  # let's compute eCDF
  amplicon.ecdfs <- generateBedEcdf(bam=amplicon.bam, bed=amplicon.bed,
                                    bed.rows=NULL)
#> Reading BED file 
#> [0.007s]
#> Checking BAM file: 
#> short-read, paired-end, name-sorted alignment detected
#> Reading paired-end BAM file 
#> [0.005s]
#> Computing ECDFs for within- and out-of-context per-read beta values 
#> [0.043s]
  
  # there are 5 items in amplicon.ecdfs, let's plot them all
  par(mfrow=c(1,length(amplicon.ecdfs)))
  
  # cycle through items
  for (x in 1:length(amplicon.ecdfs)) {
    # four of them have names corresponding to amplicon.bed genomic regions, 
    # fifth - NA for all the reads that don't match to any of those regions
    main <- if (is.na(names(amplicon.ecdfs[x]))) "unmatched"
            else names(amplicon.ecdfs[x])
    
    # plotting eCDF for within-the-context per-read beta values (in red)
    plot(amplicon.ecdfs[[x]]$context, col="red", verticals=TRUE,
         do.points=FALSE, xlim=c(0,1), xlab="per-read beta value",
         ylab="cumulative density", main=main)
    
    # adding eCDF for out-of-context per-read beta values (in blue)
    plot(amplicon.ecdfs[[x]]$out.of.context, add=TRUE, col="blue",
         verticals=TRUE, do.points=FALSE)
  }

  
  # recover default plotting parameters
  par(mfrow=c(1,1))