qTeller: a tool for comparative multi-genomic gene expression analysis

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Bioinformatics
• Transcriptomics

Background:

• RNA-Seq whole-genome sequencing is crucial for understanding gene expression changes.
• Existing tools often lack web-based accessibility for gene-level comparative analysis across multiple genomes.
• There is a need for reusable data platforms for meta-analyses and cross-genomic studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revamp the qTeller tool for enhanced comparative gene expression analysis.
• To leverage the increasing volume of public RNA-Seq datasets.
• To enable gene-level comparisons across different genomes and datasets.

Main Methods:

• Revamped the qTeller comparative gene expression tool.
• Integrated support for multiple genomes and diverse data formats (mRNA, protein abundance).
• Modernized the user interface and back-end database for improved accessibility.

Main Results:

• The new qTeller version supports intergenomic comparisons of gene expression.
• It allows evaluation of gene expression within genomic intervals and two-gene comparisons across tissues.
• A maize instance of qTeller is available with over 200 datasets mapped across 27 maize genomes.

Conclusions:

• The enhanced qTeller tool provides a valuable resource for comparative transcriptomics.
• Its open-source nature and multi-genome support facilitate broader research applications.
• qTeller is crucial for researchers analyzing gene expression across diverse genomic contexts.