RNA-Seq

Description

RNA-Seq is a sequencing method used to determine gene expression levels. RNA-Seq data originates from extracted RNA that was reverse transcribed into DNA and sequenced on a next-generation sequencing platform. The number of reads determined to have originated from each transcript (usually by alignment) are proportional to their expression level.

Overview

RNA-Seq data in the GDC is used to generate a gene expression profile for tumor samples across many cancer types and to determine which gene expression levels are responsible for tumor development. The GDC harmonizes RNA-Seq data by aligning raw RNA reads to the GRCh38 reference genome build and calculating gene expression levels with standardized protocols1. RNA-Seq data is mostly available for tumor samples, although some normal samples have associated RNA-Seq data.

Data

RNA-Seq data is available as aligned reads (BAM) and expression levels as: raw counts and normalized with TPM, FPKM, or FPKM-UQ. Reads that did not align are also included in BAM files to facilitate the retrieval of the original raw data.

References

  1. GDC mRNA Expression Pipeline
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Categories: Experimental Strategy