popDMS infers mutation effects from deep mutational scanning data

Abstract

Deep mutational scanning (DMS) experiments provide a powerful method to measure the functional effects of genetic mutations at massive scales. However, the data generated from these experiments can be difficult to analyze, with significant variation between experimental replicates. To overcome this challenge, we developed popDMS, a computational method based on population genetics theory, to infer the functional effects of mutations from DMS data. Through extensive tests, we found that the functional effects of single mutations and epistasis inferred by popDMS are highly consistent across replicates, comparing favorably with existing methods. Our approach is flexible and can be widely applied to DMS data that includes multiple time points, multiple replicates, and different experimental conditions.