FIVEx: an interactive multi-tissue eQTL browser

Abstract

SummaryExpression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) characterize the associations between genetic variation and gene expression to provide insights into tissue-specific gene regulation. Interactive visualization of tissue-specific eQTLs can facilitate our understanding of functional variants relevant to disease-related traits. However, combining the multi-dimensional nature of eQTLs into a concise and informative visualization is challenging. Existing eQTL visualization tools provide useful ways to summarize the unprecedented scale of transcriptomic data but are not necessarily tailored to answer questions about the functional interpretations of trait-associated variants or other variants of interest. We developed FIVEx, an interactive eQTL browser with an intuitive interface tailored to the functional interpretation of associated variants. It features the ability to navigate seamlessly between different data views while providing relevant tissue- and locus-specific information to offer users a better understanding of population-scale multi-tissue transcriptomic profiles. Our implementation of the FIVEx browser on the Gene-Tissue Expression (GTEx) dataset provides important insights for understanding potential tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms underlying trait-associated signals. Availability and implementationA FIVEx instance visualizing GTEx v8 data can be found at https://eqtl.pheweb.org. The FIVEx source code is open source under an MIT license at https://github.com/statgen/fivex.