The rapid evolvement of sequencing technology has generated huge amounts of DNA/RNA sequences, even with the continuous performance acceleration. Due to the wide variety of basic studies and applications derived from the huge number of species and the microorganism diversity, the targets to be sequenced are also expanding. The huge amounts of data generated by recently developed high-throughput sequencers have required highly efficient data analysis algorithms using recently developed high-performance computers. We have developed a highly accurate and cost-effective mapping strategy that includes the exclusion of unreliable base calls and correction of the reference sequence through provisional mapping of RNA sequencing reads. The use of mapping software tools, such as HISAT and STAR, precisely aligned RNA-Seq reads to the genome of a filamentous fungus considering exon-intron boundaries. The accuracy of the expression analysis through the refinement of gene models was achieved by the results of mapped RNA-Seq reads in combination with ab initio gene finding tools using generalized hidden Markov models (GHMMs). Visualization of the mapping results greatly helps evaluate and improve the entire analysis in terms of both wet experiment and data processing. We believe that at least a portion of our approach is useful and applicable to the analysis of any microorganism.
Part of the book: Applications of RNA-Seq and Omics Strategies