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Genomics and Epigenomics Data Processing

Production-ready computational skill for processing and analyzing epigenomics data. Combines local Python computation (pandas, scipy, numpy, pysam, statsmodels) with ToolUniverse annotation tools for regulatory context. Designed to solve BixBench-style questions about methylation, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, and multi-omics integration.

When to Use This Skill

Triggers :

• User provides methylation data (beta-value matrices, Illumina arrays) and asks about CpG sites
• Questions about differential methylation analysis
• Age-related CpG detection or epigenetic clock questions
• Chromosome-level methylation density or statistics
• ChIP-seq peak files (BED format) with analysis questions
• ATAC-seq chromatin accessibility questions
• Multi-omics integration (expression + methylation, expression + ChIP-seq)
• Genome-wide epigenomic statistics
• Questions mentioning "methylation", "CpG", "ChIP-seq", "ATAC-seq", "histone", "chromatin", "epigenetic"
• Questions about missing data across clinical/genomic/epigenomic modalities
• Regulatory element annotation for processed epigenomic data

Example Questions :

1. "How many patients have no missing data for vital status, gene expression, and methylation data?"
2. "What is the ratio of filtered age-related CpG density between chromosomes?"
3. "What is the genome-wide average chromosomal density of unique age-related CpGs per base pair?"
4. "How many CpG sites show significant differential methylation (padj < 0.05)?"
5. "What is the Pearson correlation between methylation and expression for gene X?"
6. "How many ChIP-seq peaks overlap with promoter regions?"
7. "What fraction of ATAC-seq peaks are in enhancer regions?"
8. "Which chromosome has the highest density of hypermethylated CpGs?"
9. "Filter CpG sites by variance > threshold and map to nearest genes"
10. "What is the average beta value difference between tumor and normal for chromosome 17?"

NOT for (use other skills instead):

• Gene regulation lookup without data files -> Use existing epigenomics annotation pattern
• RNA-seq differential expression -> Use tooluniverse-rnaseq-deseq2
• Variant calling/annotation from VCF -> Use tooluniverse-variant-analysis
• Gene enrichment analysis -> Use tooluniverse-gene-enrichment
• Protein structure analysis -> Use tooluniverse-protein-structure-retrieval

Required Python Packages

# Core (MUST be available)
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats
import statsmodels.stats.multitest as mt

# Optional but useful
import pysam      # BAM/CRAM file access
import gseapy     # Enrichment of genes from methylation analysis

# ToolUniverse (for annotation)
from tooluniverse import ToolUniverse

Key Principles

1. Data-first approach - Load and inspect data files BEFORE any analysis
2. Question-driven - Parse what the user is actually asking and extract the specific numeric answer
3. File format detection - Automatically detect methylation arrays, BED files, BigWig, clinical data
4. Coordinate system awareness - Track genome build (hg19, hg38, mm10), handle chr prefix differences
5. Statistical rigor - Proper multiple testing correction, effect size filtering, sample size awareness
6. Missing data handling - Explicitly report and handle NaN/missing values
7. Chromosome normalization - Always normalize chromosome names (chr1 vs 1, chrX vs X)
8. CpG site identification - Parse Illumina probe IDs (cg/ch probes), genomic coordinates
9. Report-first - Create output file first, populate progressively
10. English-first queries - Use English in all tool calls

Workflow Overview

Phase 0: Question Parsing and Data Discovery

Before writing any code, parse the question to identify:

• What data files are available (methylation, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, clinical, expression, manifest)
• What specific statistic or answer is being asked for
• What thresholds apply (significance, effect size, variance, chromosome filters)
• What genome build to use

Categorize files by scanning for keywords: methyl/beta/cpg/illumina, chip/peak/narrowpeak, atac/accessibility, clinical/patient/sample, express/rnaseq/fpkm, manifest/annotation/probe.

See ANALYSIS_PROCEDURES.md for the full decision tree and parameter extraction table.

Phase 1: Methylation Data Processing

Core functions for methylation analysis:

• Load methylation data - Supports CSV, TSV, parquet, HDF5; auto-detects beta vs M-values
• Load probe manifest - Illumina 450K/EPIC manifest with chromosome, position, gene annotation
• CpG filtering - Filter by variance, missing rate, probe type (cg/ch), chromosome, CpG island relation, gene group
• Differential methylation - T-test/Wilcoxon/KS between groups with FDR correction; identify DMPs (hyper/hypo)
• Age-related CpG analysis - Pearson/Spearman correlation of probes with age, FDR correction
• Chromosome-level density - CpG count per chromosome divided by chromosome length; density ratios; genome-wide average

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 1 for full function implementations.

Phase 2: ChIP-seq Peak Analysis

• Load BED/narrowPeak/broadPeak - Auto-detect format, normalize chromosomes
• Peak statistics - Count, length distribution, signal values, q-values
• Peak annotation - Map peaks to nearest gene, classify as promoter/gene_body/proximal/distal
• Peak overlap - Pure Python interval intersection between two BED files; Jaccard similarity

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 2 for full function implementations.

Phase 3: ATAC-seq Analysis

• Load ATAC peaks - Wrapper around BED loader for narrowPeak format
• ATAC-specific stats - Nucleosome-free region (NFR) detection (<150bp peaks), region classification
• Chromatin accessibility by region - Distribution of open chromatin across promoter/enhancer/intergenic

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 3 for full function implementations.

Phase 4: Multi-Omics Integration

• Methylation-expression correlation - Align samples, compute per-probe-gene Pearson/Spearman with FDR
• ChIP-seq + expression - Find genes with promoter peaks and compare expression levels

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 4 for full function implementations.

Phase 5: Clinical Data Integration

• Missing data analysis - Count samples present across clinical, expression, and methylation modalities
• Complete case identification - Find intersection of samples with non-missing values for specified variables

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 5 for full function implementations.

Phase 6: ToolUniverse Annotation

Use ToolUniverse tools to add biological context after computational analysis:

• Gene annotation - Ensembl lookup for coordinates, biotype, cross-references
• Regulatory elements - SCREEN cCREs (enhancers, promoters, insulators)
• ChIPAtlas - Query available ChIP-seq experiments by antigen/cell type
• Ensembl regulatory features - Annotate genomic regions with regulatory overlaps

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 6 and TOOLS_REFERENCE.md for parameters.

Phase 7: Genome-Wide Statistics

• Comprehensive methylation stats - Global mean/median beta, probe variance, chromosome density
• Differential methylation summary - Count significant, hyper/hypo split, effect sizes

See CODE_REFERENCE.md Phase 7 for full function implementations.

Common Analysis Patterns

See ANALYSIS_PROCEDURES.md for detailed step-by-step flows and edge case handling.

Key Functions Reference

ToolUniverse Tools Used

Regulatory Annotation Tools

• ensembl_lookup_gene - Gene coordinates, biotype (REQUIRES species='homo_sapiens')
• ensembl_get_regulatory_features - Regulatory features by region (NO "chr" prefix in region)
• ensembl_get_overlap_features - Gene/transcript overlap data
• SCREEN_get_regulatory_elements - cCREs: enhancers, promoters, insulators
• ReMap_get_transcription_factor_binding - TF binding sites
• RegulomeDB_query_variant - Variant regulatory score
• jaspar_search_matrices - TF binding matrices
• ENCODE_search_experiments - Experiment metadata (assay_title must be "TF ChIP-seq" not "ChIP-seq")

Gene Annotation Tools

• MyGene_query_genes - Gene query
• MyGene_batch_query - Batch gene query
• HGNC_get_gene_info - Gene symbol, aliases, IDs
• GO_get_annotations_for_gene - GO annotations

See TOOLS_REFERENCE.md for full parameter details and return schemas.

Data Format Notes

• Methylation data : Probes (rows) x samples (columns), beta values 0-1
• BED files : Tab-separated, 0-based half-open coordinates
• narrowPeak : 10-column BED extension with signalValue, pValue, qValue, peak
• Illumina manifests : Probe ID, chromosome, position, gene annotation
• Clinical data : Patient/sample-centric with clinical variables as columns

Genome Builds Supported

Limitations

• No native pybedtools: uses pure Python interval operations
• No native pyBigWig: cannot read BigWig files directly without package
• No R bridge: does not use methylKit, ChIPseeker, or DiffBind
• Illumina-centric: methylation functions designed for 450K/EPIC arrays
• Uses t-test/Wilcoxon for differential methylation (not limma/bumphunter)
• No peak calling: assumes peaks are pre-called
• API rate limits: ToolUniverse annotation limited to ~20 genes per batch

Reference Files

• CODE_REFERENCE.md - Full Python function implementations for all phases
• TOOLS_REFERENCE.md - ToolUniverse tool parameter details and return schemas
• ANALYSIS_PROCEDURES.md - Decision trees, step-by-step analysis patterns, edge cases, fallback strategies
• QUICK_START.md - Quick start examples for common analysis types

Weekly Installs

142

Repository

mims-harvard/to…universe

GitHub Stars

1.2K

First Seen

Feb 16, 2026

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Installed on

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