Revealing the History and Mystery of RNA-Seq

Advances in RNA-sequencing technologies have led to the development of intriguing experimental setups, a massive accumulation of data, and high demand for tools to analyze it. To answer this demand, computational scientists have developed a myriad of data analysis pipelines, but it is less often considered what the most appropriate one is. The RNA-sequencing data analysis pipeline can be divided into three major parts: data pre-processing, followed by the main and downstream analyses. Here, we present an overview of the tools used in both the bulk RNA-seq and at the single-cell level, with a particular focus on alternative splicing and active RNA synthesis analysis. A crucial part of data pre-processing is quality control, which defines the necessity of the next steps; adapter removal, trimming, and filtering. After pre-processing, the data are finally analyzed using a variety of tools: differential gene expression, alternative splicing, and assessment of active synthesis, the latter requiring dedicated sample preparation. In brief, we describe the commonly used tools in the sample preparation and analysis of RNA-seq data.