ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method

Abstract A central task in expression quantitative trait locus analysis is to identify cis-eGenes, i.e., genes whose expression levels are regulated by at least one local genetic variant. Existing cis-eGene identification methods are either computationally expensive, requiring thousands of permutati...

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Main Authors: Heather J. Zhou, Xinzhou Ge, Jingyi Jessica Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:Genome Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03662-y
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author Heather J. Zhou
Xinzhou Ge
Jingyi Jessica Li
author_facet Heather J. Zhou
Xinzhou Ge
Jingyi Jessica Li
author_sort Heather J. Zhou
collection DOAJ
description Abstract A central task in expression quantitative trait locus analysis is to identify cis-eGenes, i.e., genes whose expression levels are regulated by at least one local genetic variant. Existing cis-eGene identification methods are either computationally expensive, requiring thousands of permutations per gene (FastQTL), or statistically underpowered (eigenMT and TreeQTL). We propose ClipperQTL, which requires only one permutation for data sets with large sample sizes (>450; ClipperQTL works on smaller data sets too). We show that ClipperQTL performs as well as FastQTL and runs up to 500 times faster. The R package ClipperQTL is available at https://github.com/heatherjzhou/ClipperQTL .
format Article
id doaj-art-3a6245136ee445d58dc58f314531d80c
institution Kabale University
issn 1474-760X
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Genome Biology
spelling doaj-art-3a6245136ee445d58dc58f314531d80c2025-08-20T04:02:54ZengBMCGenome Biology1474-760X2025-07-0126111210.1186/s13059-025-03662-yClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification methodHeather J. Zhou0Xinzhou Ge1Jingyi Jessica Li2Department of Statistics and Data Science, University of California, Los AngelesDepartment of Statistics and Data Science, University of California, Los AngelesDepartment of Statistics and Data Science, University of California, Los AngelesAbstract A central task in expression quantitative trait locus analysis is to identify cis-eGenes, i.e., genes whose expression levels are regulated by at least one local genetic variant. Existing cis-eGene identification methods are either computationally expensive, requiring thousands of permutations per gene (FastQTL), or statistically underpowered (eigenMT and TreeQTL). We propose ClipperQTL, which requires only one permutation for data sets with large sample sizes (>450; ClipperQTL works on smaller data sets too). We show that ClipperQTL performs as well as FastQTL and runs up to 500 times faster. The R package ClipperQTL is available at https://github.com/heatherjzhou/ClipperQTL .https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03662-y
spellingShingle Heather J. Zhou
Xinzhou Ge
Jingyi Jessica Li
ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
Genome Biology
title ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
title_full ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
title_fullStr ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
title_full_unstemmed ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
title_short ClipperQTL: ultrafast and powerful eGene identification method
title_sort clipperqtl ultrafast and powerful egene identification method
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03662-y
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AT xinzhouge clipperqtlultrafastandpowerfulegeneidentificationmethod
AT jingyijessicali clipperqtlultrafastandpowerfulegeneidentificationmethod