Bioinformatics Workflows for Genomic Variant Discovery, Interpretation and Prioritization

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques allow high-throughput detection of a vast amount of variations in a cost-efficient manner. However, there still are inconsistencies and debates about how to process and analyse this ‘ big data ’ . To accurately extract clinically relevant information from genomics data, choosing appropriate tools, knowing how to best utilize them and interpreting the results correctly is crucial. This chapter reviews state-of-the-art bioinformatics approaches in clinically relevant genomic variant detection. Best practices of reads-to-variant discovery workflows for germline and somatic short genomic variants are presented along with the most commonly utilized tools for each step. Additionally, methods for detecting structural variations are overviewed. Finally, approaches and current guidelines for clinical interpretation of genomic variants are discussed. As emphasized in this chapter, data processing and variant discovery steps are relatively well-understood. The differences in prioritization algorithms on the other hand can be perplexing, thus creating a bottleneck during interpretation. This review aims to shed light on the pros and cons of these differences to help experts give more informed decisions.