DORA: an interactive map for the visualization and analysis of ancient human DNA and associated data

Abstract

The ability to sequence ancient genomes has revolutionized the way in which we study evolutionary history by providing access to the most important aspect of evolution -- time. Until recently, studying human demography, ecology, biology, and history using population genomic inference relied on contemporary genomic datasets. Over the past decade, the availability of human ancient DNA (aDNA) has increased rapidly, almost doubling every year, opening the way for spatiotemporal studies of ancient human populations. However, the multidimensionality of aDNA, with genotypes having temporal, spatial and genomic coordinates, and the need to integrate multiple sources of data, poses a challenge for developing meta-analyses pipelines. To address this challenge, we developed a publicly-available interactive tool, DORA, which integrates multiple data types, genomic and non-genomic, in a unified interface. This web-based tool allows users to browse sample metadata along with additional layers of information, such as population structure, climatic data, and unpublished samples. Users can then perform analyses on genotypes of these samples, or export sample subsets for external analyses. DORA integrates analyses and visualizations in a single intuitive interface, resolving the technical issues of combining datasets from different sources and formats, and allowing researchers to focus on analysis and the scientific questions that can be addressed through analysis of aDNA datasets.