GeneticsMakie.jl: a versatile and scalable toolkit for visualizing locus-level genetic and genomic data

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Genomics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and functional genomics generate vast amounts of data.
• Integrating and visualizing diverse genetic and genomic data layers at specific loci is crucial for analysis.
• Existing visualization tools face limitations in speed, scalability, and flexibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce GeneticsMakie.jl, a Julia package for high-performance genetic and genomic data visualization.
• To enable fast, simultaneous plotting of numerous association results with genomic annotations.
• To provide a flexible and extensible platform for generating publication-quality figures.

Main Methods:

• Development of a Julia package leveraging Makie.jl for plotting and layout.
• Implementation of high-performance data visualization capabilities for genetic and genomic data.
• Focus on simultaneous plotting of association results and genomic annotations.

Main Results:

• GeneticsMakie.jl enables fast visualization of hundreds of genetic association results.
• The package facilitates the integration of multiple genomic annotation layers.
• Customization and extensibility are achieved through Makie.jl's utilities.

Conclusions:

• GeneticsMakie.jl overcomes limitations of existing tools for locus-level genetic data visualization.
• The package supports efficient exploratory and integrative data analyses in genetics and genomics.
• It provides a solution for generating publication-ready figures from complex genetic datasets.