A database of orthologous exons in primates for comparative analysis of RNA-seq data

Abstract

RNA-seq technology facilitates the study of gene expression at the level of individual exons and transcripts. Moreover, RNA-seq enables unbiased comparative analysis of expression levels across species. Such analyses typically start by mapping sequenced reads to the appropriate reference genome before comparing expression levels across species. However, this comparison requires prior knowledge of orthology at the exon level. With this in mind, I constructed a database of orthologous exons across three primate species (human, chimpanzee, and rhesus macaque). The database facilitates cross-species comparative analysis of exon- and transcript-level regulation. A web application allowing for an easy database query: http://giladlab.uchicago.edu/orthoExon/