| name | bulk-rna-seq-deseq2-analysis-with-omicverse |
| title | Bulk RNA-seq DESeq2 analysis with omicverse |
| description | Walk Claude through PyDESeq2-based differential expression, including ID mapping, DE testing, fold-change thresholding, and enrichment visualisation. |
Bulk RNA-seq DESeq2 analysis with omicverse
Overview
Use this skill when a user wants to reproduce the DESeq2 workflow showcased in t_deseq2.ipynb. It covers loading raw featureCounts matrices, mapping Ensembl IDs to symbols, running PyDESeq2 via ov.bulk.pyDEG, and exploring downstream enrichment plots.
Instructions
- Import and format the expression matrix
- Call
import omicverse as ov and ov.utils.ov_plot_set() to standardise visuals.
- Read tab-separated count data from featureCounts using
ov.utils.read(..., index_col=0, header=1).
- Strip trailing
.bam from column names with [c.split('/')[-1].replace('.bam', '') for c in data.columns].
- Map gene identifiers
- Ensure the appropriate mapping pair exists by running
ov.utils.download_geneid_annotation_pair().
- Replace
gene_id with gene symbols using ov.bulk.Matrix_ID_mapping(data, 'genesets/pair_<GENOME>.tsv').
- Initialise the DEG object
- Create
dds = ov.bulk.pyDEG(data) from the mapped counts.
- Resolve duplicate gene names with
dds.drop_duplicates_index() and confirm success in logs.
- Define contrasts and run DESeq2
- Collect sample labels into
treatment_groups and control_groups lists that match column names exactly.
- Execute
dds.deg_analysis(treatment_groups, control_groups, method='DEseq2') to invoke PyDESeq2.
- Filter and tune thresholds
- Inspect result shape (
dds.result.shape) and optionally filter low-expression genes, e.g. dds.result.loc[dds.result['log2(BaseMean)'] > 1].
- Set thresholds via
dds.foldchange_set(fc_threshold=-1, pval_threshold=0.05, logp_max=6) to auto-pick fold-change cutoffs.
- Visualise differential genes
- Draw volcano plots with
dds.plot_volcano(...) and summarise key genes.
- Produce per-gene boxplots:
dds.plot_boxplot(genes=[...], treatment_groups=..., control_groups=..., figsize=(2, 3)).
- Run enrichment analyses (optional)
- Download enrichment libraries using
ov.utils.download_pathway_database() and load them through ov.utils.geneset_prepare.
- Rank genes for GSEA with
rnk = dds.ranking2gsea().
- Instantiate
gsea_obj = ov.bulk.pyGSEA(rnk, pathway_dict) and call gsea_obj.enrichment() to compute terms.
- Plot enrichment bubble charts via
gsea_obj.plot_enrichment(...) and GSEA curves with gsea_obj.plot_gsea(term_num=..., ...).
- Troubleshooting
- If PyDESeq2 raises errors about size factors, remind users to provide raw counts (not log-transformed data).
gene_id mapping depends on species; direct them to download the correct genome pair when results look sparse.
- Large pathway libraries may require raising recursion limits or filtering to the top N terms before plotting.
Examples
- "Run PyDESeq2 on treated vs control replicates and highlight the top enriched WikiPathways terms."
- "Filter DEGs to genes with log2(BaseMean) > 1, auto-select fold-change cutoffs, and create volcano and boxplots."
- "Generate the ranked gene list for GSEA and plot the enrichment curve for the top pathway."
References