benchNGS : An approach to benchmark short reads alignment tools

In the last decade a number of algorithms and associated software have been developed to align next generation sequencing (NGS) reads with relevant reference genomes. The accuracy of these programs may vary significantly, especially when the NGS reads are quite different from the available reference genome. We propose a benchmark to assess accuracy of short reads mapping based on the pre-computed global alignment of related genome sequences. In this paper we propose a benchmark to assess accuracy of the short reads mapping based on the pre-computed global alignment of closely related genome sequences. We outline the method and also present a short report of an experiment performed on five popular alignment tools based on the pairwise alignments of Escherichia coli O6 CFT073 genome with genomes of seven other bacteria.

Differential Evolution Approach to Detect Recent Admixture

The genetic structure of human populations is extraordinarily complex and of fundamental importance to studies of anthropology, evolution, and medicine. As increasingly many individuals are of mixed origin, there is an unmet need for tools that can infer multiple origins. Misclassification of such individuals can lead to incorrect and costly misinterpretations of genomic data, primarily in disease studies and drug trials. We present an advanced tool to infer ancestry that can identify the biogeographic origins of highly mixed individuals. reAdmix is an online tool available at http://chcb.saban-chla.usc.edu/reAdmix/.