Splicegraph Modules

Splicegraph modules (Modules) were first conceptualized and applied to analyzing RNA-Seq data by Hu et al (1). Modules are derived as follows: as you trace a gene from 5’ to 3’, a Module begins when there are two or more possible ways to splice out of a locus, and the Module ends when the alternative splicing paths converge to a single locus. For example, a simple cassette exon represented by a Module would start at the 5’ splice site of the upstream constitutive exon, and the Module would end at the 3’ splice site of the downstream constitutive exon.

We applied the Module logic to identify simple alternative isoform-forming events (two possible paths in the Module: cassette exons, tandem cassette exons, binary alternative splice sites, mutually exclusive exons, intron retentions, alternative first/last exons, etc). Furthermore, the Module logic is easily extendable to capture more complex alternative splicing events (three or more possible paths in the Module).

The first step of the VOILA Categorizer is to identify modules along every gene. Each module has an ID which is simply: GeneID_<N> where <N> is the nth module found while scanning the gene in the 5’ to 3’ direction.

The second step of the voila Categorizer is to identify what types of alternative-isoform-generating events are within each module.