SpliceWiz: easy, optimized, and accurate alternative splicing analysis in R

Abstract

Despite an abundance of publicly available RNA sequencing datasets, a lack of integrated user-friendly tools hinder exploration of alternative splicing. SpliceWiz is an innovative, ultra-fast graphical R application that accurately quantifies splicing events using isoform-specific alignments. It is designed to accommodate hundreds of samples typically seen in clinical datasets. Novel event filters remove low-confidence measurements from analysis, enhancing accuracy over existing methods. Group-averaged strand-specific sequencing coverage plots enable clear visualization of group differences in alternative splicing, using a new file format with demonstrable performance improvements over the current BigWig standard. ompBAM, a C++ library upon which SpliceWiz is built, automates multi-threaded alignment file processing for R package developers. SpliceWiz is a powerful platform for diverse users to explore alternative splicing in large datasets.