How are Bayesian and Non-Parametric Methods Doing a Great Job in RNA-Seq Differential Expression Analysis? : A Review

Abstract

In a short history, RNA-seq data have established a revolutionary tool to directly decode various scenarios occurring on whole genome-wide expression profiles in regards with differential expression at gene, transcript, isoform, and exon specific quantification, genetic and genomic mutations, and etc. RNA-seq technique has been rapidly replacing arrays with seq-based platform experimental settings by revealing a couple of advantages such as identification of alternative splicing and allelic specific expression. The remarkable characteristics of high-throughput large-scale expression profile in RNA-seq are lied on expression levels of read counts, structure of correlated samples and genes, larger number of genes compared to sample size, different sampling rates, inevitable systematic RNA-seq biases, and etc. In this study, we will comprehensively review how robust Bayesian and non-parametric methods have a better performance than classical statistical approaches by explicitly incorporating such intrinsic RNA-seq specific features with flexible and more appropriate assumptions and distributions in practice.