iLearn: an integrated platform and meta-learner for feature engineering, machine-learning analysis and modeling of DNA, RNA and protein sequence data.

Journal: Briefings in bioinformatics
Published Date: May 21, 2020

Abstract

With the explosive growth of biological sequences generated in the post-genomic era, one of the most challenging problems in bioinformatics and computational biology is to computationally characterize sequences, structures and functions in an efficient, accurate and high-throughput manner. A number of online web servers and stand-alone tools have been developed to address this to date; however, all these tools have their limitations and drawbacks in terms of their effectiveness, user-friendliness and capacity. Here, we present iLearn, a comprehensive and versatile Python-based toolkit, integrating the functionality of feature extraction, clustering, normalization, selection, dimensionality reduction, predictor construction, best descriptor/model selection, ensemble learning and results visualization for DNA, RNA and protein sequences. iLearn was designed for users that only want to upload their data set and select the functions they need calculated from it, while all necessary procedures and optimal settings are completed automatically by the software. iLearn includes a variety of descriptors for DNA, RNA and proteins, and four feature output formats are supported so as to facilitate direct output usage or communication with other computational tools. In total, iLearn encompasses 16 different types of feature clustering, selection, normalization and dimensionality reduction algorithms, and five commonly used machine-learning algorithms, thereby greatly facilitating feature analysis and predictor construction. iLearn is made freely available via an online web server and a stand-alone toolkit.

Authors

  • Zhen Chen
    School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266021, China.
  • Pei Zhao
    State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Anyang, 455000, China.
  • Fuyi Li
    College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia, National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes and Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China, Centre for Research in Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia and ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Tatiana T Marquez-Lago
    Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.
  • AndrĂ© Leier
    Informatics Institute, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.
  • Jerico Revote
    Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Yan Zhu
    Department of Chemistry, Xixi Campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310028, China. Electronic address: zhuyan@zju.edu.cn.
  • David R Powell
    Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Tatsuya Akutsu
    Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Japan.
  • Geoffrey I Webb
    College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia, National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes and Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China, Centre for Research in Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia and ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Kuo-Chen Chou
    School of Computer Science and Technology and Key Laboratory of Network Oriented Intelligent Computation, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China, Gordon Life Science Institute, Belmont, MA 02478, USA and Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research (CEGMR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia School of Computer Science and Technology and Key Laboratory of Network Oriented Intelligent Computation, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China, Gordon Life Science Institute, Belmont, MA 02478, USA and Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research (CEGMR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
  • A Ian Smith
    Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Roger J Daly
    Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.
  • Jian Li
    Fujian Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, College of Animal Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.
  • Jiangning Song
    College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia, National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes and Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China, Centre for Research in Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia and ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia, National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes and Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China, Centre for Research in Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia and ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia, National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial Enzymes and Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China, Centre for Research in Intelligent Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia and ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia.

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