MT-HESS: an efficient Bayesian approach for simultaneous association detection in OMICS datasets, with application to eQTL mapping in multiple tissues
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Motivation: Analysing the joint association between a large set of responses and predictors is a fundamental statistical task in integrative genomics, exemplified by numerous expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTL) studies. Of particular interest are the so-called ‘hotspots’, important genetic variants that regulate the expression of many genes. Recently, attention has focussed on whether eQTLs are common to several tissues, cell-types or, more generally, conditions or whether they are specific to a particular condition.
Results: We have implemented MT-HESS, a Bayesian hierarchical model that analyses the association between a large set of predictors, e.g. SNPs, and many responses, e.g. gene expression, in multiple tissues, cells or conditions. Our Bayesian sparse regression algorithm goes beyond ‘one-at-a-time’ association tests between SNPs and responses and uses a fully multivariate model search across all linear combinations of SNPs, coupled with a model of the correlation between condition/tissue-specific responses. In addition, we use a hierarchical structure to leverage shared information across different genes, thus improving the detection of hotspots. We show the increase of power resulting from our new approach in an extensive simulation study. Our analysis of two case studies highlights new hotspots that would remain undetected by standard approaches and shows how greater prediction power can be achieved when several tissues are jointly considered.
Results: We have implemented MT-HESS, a Bayesian hierarchical model that analyses the association between a large set of predictors, e.g. SNPs, and many responses, e.g. gene expression, in multiple tissues, cells or conditions. Our Bayesian sparse regression algorithm goes beyond ‘one-at-a-time’ association tests between SNPs and responses and uses a fully multivariate model search across all linear combinations of SNPs, coupled with a model of the correlation between condition/tissue-specific responses. In addition, we use a hierarchical structure to leverage shared information across different genes, thus improving the detection of hotspots. We show the increase of power resulting from our new approach in an extensive simulation study. Our analysis of two case studies highlights new hotspots that would remain undetected by standard approaches and shows how greater prediction power can be achieved when several tissues are jointly considered.
Date Issued
2015-10-26
Date Acceptance
2015-09-03
Citation
Bioinformatics, 2015, 32 (4), pp.523-532
ISSN
1367-4803
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Start Page
523
End Page
532
Journal / Book Title
Bioinformatics
Volume
32
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Grant Number
G1002319
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Technology
Physical Sciences
Biochemical Research Methods
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Mathematical & Computational Biology
Statistics & Probability
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Computer Science
Mathematics
QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI
VARIABLE SELECTION
GENE-EXPRESSION
GENOME
IDENTIFICATION
ALLELES
NETWORK
DISEASE
RISK
SETS
Bioinformatics
01 Mathematical Sciences
06 Biological Sciences
08 Information And Computing Sciences
Publication Status
Published