[BioC] RNASeq: normalization issues

[Davis McCarthy]

Hi Yiwen

The "quantile normalization" option in calcNormFactors in edgeR does something very different from the quantile normalization (microarray-style) that Wei has been discussing.

The quantile normalization in calcNormFactors computes an offset for sequencing library depth after Bullard et al (2010) [1]. This is an approach in the same vein as TMM normalization [2] or scaled median [3].  

I believe that the approach that Wei is suggesting is more similar to the quantile normalization approach that has been taken with microarray data, adjusting the data so that the response follows the same distribution across (in this context) sequenced libraries. This will typically result in non-integer data from adjusting counts, but count-based methods could still be used if this quantile normalization were treated as an offset for each observation in (e.g.) a generalized linear model. 

Cheers
Davis


[1] http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/11/94 
[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864565/?tool=pubmed
[3] http://genomebiology.com/2010/11/10/R106#B13


> Hi Wei,
> 
> Could you elaborate on how to appropriately do gene-length-adjusted
> quantile normalization in edgeR? The "quantile normalization" option in
> calcNormFactors function does not seem to take into account the gene
> length.
> 
> Thanks.
> Yiwen
>> Hi João:
>> 
>> 	Maybe you can try different normalization methods for your data to see
>> which one looks better. How to best normalize RNA-seq data is still of
>> much debate at this stage.
>> 
>> 	You can try scaling methods like TMM, RPKM, or 75th percentile, which
>> as
>> you said normalize data within samples. Or you can try quantile
>> between-sample normalization (read counts should be adjusted by gene
>> length first), which performs normalization across samples. You can try
>> all these in edgeR package.
>> 
>> 	From my experience, I actually found the quantile method performed
>> better
>> for my RNA-seq data. I used general linear model and likelihood ratio
>> test in edgeR in my analysis.
>> 
>> 	Hope this helps.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Wei
>> 
>> On Apr 28, 2011, at 7:36 PM, João Moura wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear all,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Until now I was doing RNAseq DE analysis and to do that I understand
>>> that
>>> normalization issues only matter inside samples, because one can assume
>>> the
>>> length/content biases will cancel out when comparing same genes in
>>> different
>>> samples.
>>> Although, I'm now trying to compare correlation of different genes and
>>> so,
>>> this biases should be taken into account - for this is there any better
>>> method than RPKM?
>>> 
>>> My main doubt is if I should also take into acount the biases inside
>>> samples
>>> and to do that is there any better approach then TMM by Robinson and
>>> Oshlack
>>> [2010]?
>>> 
>>> Thank you all,
>>> --
>>> João Moura
>>> 
>>> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
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> 
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--------------------------------------------------
Davis J McCarthy
Research Technician
Bioinformatics Division
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1G Royal Parade, Parkville, Vic 3052, Australia.
dmccarthy at wehi.edu.au
http://www.wehi.edu.au

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