m6aViewer: software for the detection, analysis, and visualization of N(6)-methyladenosine peaks from m(6)A-seq/ME-RIP sequencing data

Recent methods for transcriptome-wide N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A) profiling have facilitated investigations into the RNA methylome and established m(6)A as a dynamic modification that has critical regulatory roles in gene expression and may play a role in human disease. However, bioinformatics resources available for the analysis of m(6)A sequencing data are still limited. Here, we describe m6aViewer—a cross-platform application for analysis and visualization of m(6)A peaks from sequencing data. m6aViewer implements a novel m(6)A peak-calling algorithm that identifies high-confidence methylated residues with more precision than previously described approaches. The application enables data analysis through a graphical user interface, and thus, in contrast to other currently available tools, does not require the user to be skilled in computer programming. m6aViewer and test data can be downloaded here: http://dna2.leeds.ac.uk/m6a.