CoverageMaster: comprehensive CNV detection and visualization from NGS short reads for genetic medicine applications

Abstract

CoverageMaster (CoM) is a Copy Number Variation (CNV) calling algorithm based on depth-of-coverage maps designed to detect CNVs of any size in exome (WES) and genome (WGS) data. The core of the algorithm is the compression of sequencing coverage data in a multiscale Wavelet space and the analysis through an iterative Hidden Markov Model (HMM). CoM processes WES and WGS data at nucleotide scale resolution and accurately detect and visualize full size range CNVs, including single or partial exon deletions and duplications. The results obtained with this approach support the possibility for coverage-based CNV callers to replace probe-based methods such array CGH and MLPA in the near future.