Chromatin interaction data visualization in the WashU Epigenome Browser

Abstract

MotivationLong-range chromatin interactions are critical for gene regulations and genome maintenance. HiC and Cool are the two most common data formats used by the community, including the 4D Nucleome Consortium (4DN), to represent chromatin interaction data from a variety of chromatin conformation capture experiments, and specialized tools were developed for their analysis, visualization, and conversion. However, there does not exist a tool that can support visualization of both data formats simultaneously.\n\nResultsThe WashU Epigenome Browser has integrated both HiC and Cool data formats into its visualization platform. Investigators can seamlessly explore chromatin interaction data regardless of their underlying data format. For developers it is straightforward to benchmark the differences in rendering speed and computational resource usage between the two data formats.\n\nAvailabilityhttp://epigenomegateway.wustl.edu/browser/.