goloco: a web application to create genome scale information from surprisingly small experiments

Abstract

Background

Functional genomics aims to decipher gene function by observing cellular changes when specific genes are disrupted using CRISPR technology. However, these experiments are limited by scalability, as comprehensive CRISPR screens require extensive resources, involving millions of cells and thousands of sgRNAs, making large-scale studies challenging. We propose a novel approach with “CRISPR lossy compression” to reduce the complexity of CRISPR screens by focusing on key genetic nodes that can infer genome-wide phenotypes. These condensed sets, comprising 100 to 1,000 genes, enable previously impractical genome-wide screens tractable.

Results

To make this approach accessible to the wider scientific community, we developed goloco, an interactive web application that allows users to explore genome-scale loss-of-function phenotypes from as few as 100 pooled measurements. The tool is complemented by a wide array of analyses, including volcano plot visualizations, regression and network analyses.

Conclusions

This tool goloco empowers researchers to conduct genome-scale functional studies with minimal experimental overhead, broadening the accessibility of large-scale functional genomics research.