Bioinformatics methods for various RNA-seq data analyses are in fast evolution with the improvement of sequencing technologies. However, many challenges still exist in how to efficiently process the RNA-seq data to obtain accurate and comprehensive results. Here we reviewed the strategies for improving diverse transcriptomic studies and the annotation of genetic variants based on RNA-seq data. Mapping RNA-seq reads to the genome and transcriptome represent two distinct methods for quantifying the expression of genes/transcripts. Besides the known genes annotated in current databases, many novel genes/transcripts (especially those long noncoding RNAs) still can be identified on the reference genome using RNA-seq. Moreover, owing to the incompleteness of current reference genomes, some novel genes are missing from them. Genome- guided and de novo transcriptome reconstruction are two effective and complementary strategies for identifying those novel genes/transcripts on or beyond the reference genome. In addition, integrating the genes of distinct databases to conduct transcriptomics and genetics studies can improve the results of corresponding analyses.

作者：Geng, Chen；Tieliu, Shi；Leming, Shi

来源：Science China. Life sciences 2016 年