APAatlas

APAatlas catalogs alternative polyadenylation (APA) events from Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) RNA-seq across 9,475 samples and 53 human tissues to characterize tissue-specific 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) isoforms and their associations with mRNA expression and phenotypic traits.

Key Features:

• Extensive dataset: Leverages GTEx RNA-seq comprising 9,475 samples across 53 human tissues to profile APA events in normal tissues.
• Systematic characterization: Identifies and characterizes tissue-specific APA profiles and 3'UTR isoforms to reveal patterns related to transcriptional regulation during cell proliferation and differentiation.
• Trait and expression associations: Associates detected APA events with mRNA expression levels and phenotypic traits across tissues.

Scientific Applications:

• Tissue-specific gene regulation: Elucidates roles of APA in transcriptional regulation and tissue-specific gene expression.
• Developmental biology: Supports analysis of APA dynamics during development, cell proliferation, and differentiation.
• Disease mechanism studies: Facilitates investigation of APA alterations that may contribute to disease mechanisms.
• Therapeutic target discovery: Aids identification of novel regulatory elements and potential therapeutic targets linked to APA.

Methodology:

APAatlas employs two algorithms to detect APA events from GTEx RNA-seq and to associate APA sites with phenotypic traits and mRNA expression patterns across tissues.