The R Language: An Engine for Bioinformatics and Data Science

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Abstract

The R programming language is approaching its 30th birthday, and in the last three decades it has achieved a prominent role in statistics, bioinformatics, and data science in general. It currently ranks among the top 10 most popular languages worldwide, and its community has produced tens of thousands of extensions and packages, with scopes ranging from machine learning to transcriptome data analysis. In this review, we provide an historical chronicle of how R became what it is today, describing all its current features and capabilities. We also illustrate the major tools of R, such as the current R editors and integrated development environments (IDEs), the R Shiny web server, the R methods for machine learning, and its relationship with other programming languages. We also discuss the role of R in science in general as a driver for reproducibility. Overall, we hope to provide both a complete snapshot of R today and a practical compendium of the major features and applications of this programming language.

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Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2

Michael Love, Wolfgang Huber, Simon Anders (2014)

In comparative high-throughput sequencing assays, a fundamental task is the analysis of count data, such as read counts per gene in RNA-seq, for evidence of systematic changes across experimental conditions. Small replicate numbers, discreteness, large dynamic range and the presence of outliers require a suitable statistical approach. We present DESeq2, a method for differential analysis of count data, using shrinkage estimation for dispersions and fold changes to improve stability and interpretability of estimates. This enables a more quantitative analysis focused on the strength rather than the mere presence of differential expression. The DESeq2 package is available at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/DESeq2.html. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-014-0550-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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clusterProfiler: an R package for comparing biological themes among gene clusters.

Guangchuang Yu, Li-Gen Wang, Yanyan Han … (2012)

Increasing quantitative data generated from transcriptomics and proteomics require integrative strategies for analysis. Here, we present an R package, clusterProfiler that automates the process of biological-term classification and the enrichment analysis of gene clusters. The analysis module and visualization module were combined into a reusable workflow. Currently, clusterProfiler supports three species, including humans, mice, and yeast. Methods provided in this package can be easily extended to other species and ontologies. The clusterProfiler package is released under Artistic-2.0 License within Bioconductor project. The source code and vignette are freely available at http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/clusterProfiler.html.

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Welcome to the Tidyverse

Hadley Wickham, Mara Averick, Jennifer Bryan … (2019)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Federico M. Giorgi: (View ORCID Profile)

Daniele Mercatelli: (View ORCID Profile)

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): LBSIB7

Title: Life

Abbreviated Title: Life

Publisher: MDPI AG

ISSN (Electronic): 2075-1729

Publication date Created: May 2022

Publication date (Electronic): April 27 2022

Volume: 12

Issue: 5

Page: 648

Article

DOI: 10.3390/life12050648

PubMed ID: 35629316

SO-VID: 2a00df3d-a795-4a7b-83dc-2156fdf99de4

License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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