Identification of significant genes in genomics using Bayesian variable selection methods

Eugene Lin¹, Lung-Cheng Huang^2,3

¹Vita Genomics, Inc., Wugu Shiang, Taipei, Taiwan; ²Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, Taiwan; ³Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Abstract: In the studies of genomics, it is essential to select a small number of genes that are more significant than the others for research ranging from candidate gene studies to genome-wide association studies. In this study, we proposed a Bayesian method for identifying the promising candidate genes that are significantly more influential than the others. We employed the framework of variable selection and a Gibbs sampling based technique to identify significant genes. The proposed approach was applied to a genomics study for persons with chronic fatigue syndrome. Our studies show that the proposed Bayesian methodology is effective for deriving models for genomic studies and for providing information on significant genes.

Keywords: Bayesian variable selection, genomics, Gibbs sampling, variable selection