Statistical Genetics Skills

Tools

SuSiE Fine-Mapping

Identify causal variants at GWAS loci using Sum of Single Effects regression. Supports summary statistics or individual-level data, outputs credible sets and per-variant PIPs.

See reference/susie.md for parameters, scripts, and workflow.

LDSC (LD Score Regression)

Estimate SNP heritability, genetic correlations between traits, and partition heritability by functional annotations. Supports EUR, EAS, AFR, SAS, AMR populations.

API: estimate_heritability(), genetic_correlation(), partitioned_heritability(), munge_sumstats()

See reference/ldsc.md for parameters, scripts, and workflow.

TWAS Simulator

Simulate transcriptome-wide association studies for methods development and power analysis. Pluggable models: Elastic Net, LASSO, GBLUP, oracle.

API: simulate_twas(), simulate_expression(), run_twas(), get_model()

See reference/twas-sim.md for parameters, models, and workflow.

FUSION TWAS

Run TWAS with pre-computed GTEx v8 expression weights (49 tissues) to find genes associated with complex traits.

API: run_twas_association(), list_available_tissues(), download_weights(), check_dependencies()

See reference/fusion.md for parameters, requirements, and workflow.

JAX/Equinox Development

Guidelines for writing numerical code with JAX and Equinox: module patterns (abstract/final), JIT boundaries, PRNG discipline, PyTree stability, numerics, and linear algebra. Includes checklists and code snippets.

See reference/jax-equinox.md for rules, checklists, and ready-to-use patterns.

Input Formats

See reference/input-formats.md for summary statistics columns, LD matrix options, individual-level data formats, and output descriptions.

Scientific Figure Generation

Data Integrity

All figures must use real data. Never silently substitute simulated or synthetic data. If real data is unavailable, stop and warn the user before proceeding. Label any approved simulation output with "SIMULATED DATA" in the plot title and filename.

Built-in Plot Functions

Import from visualization/:

from visualization import (
    # SuSiE fine-mapping
    create_locus_zoom,          # Regional association plot with LD coloring + PIP track
    create_pip_barplot,         # PIP bar chart colored by credible set
    create_pip_manhattan,       # Manhattan-style PIP plot by genomic position
    create_credible_set_plot,   # Multi-panel credible set visualization
    # LDSC
    create_h2_barplot,          # Heritability estimates with 95% CI error bars
    create_rg_heatmap,          # Genetic correlation heatmap (lower triangle)
    create_enrichment_plot,     # s-LDSC enrichment forest plot
    # TWAS
    create_power_curve,         # Power vs parameter curves with error bands
    create_model_comparison,    # Model performance bar chart
    create_twas_manhattan,      # TWAS Manhattan plot
    create_qq_plot,             # QQ plot with genomic inflation factor
    # FUSION
    create_fusion_locus_plot,   # GWAS + TWAS dual-panel locus plot
    create_tissue_heatmap,      # Gene-by-tissue Z-score heatmap
    # Reports
    generate_html_report,       # Interactive HTML report (Plotly)
)

All functions accept a results DataFrame, optional output_path, figsize, and title. They return a matplotlib.Figure.

Style Conventions

Follow these defaults when creating new figures or extending existing ones:

Color Palettes

Categorical data — use colorblind-safe Okabe-Ito:

okabe_ito = ['#E69F00', '#56B4E9', '#009E73', '#F0E442',
             '#0072B2', '#D55E00', '#CC79A7', '#000000']

Credible sets — 5-color palette already used in pip_plot.py and credible_set.py:

cs_colors = ['#E41A1C', '#377EB8', '#4DAF4A', '#984EA3', '#FF7F00']

LD r² — red (≥0.8) → orange → green → light blue → blue (<0.2).

Heatmaps / continuous data — perceptually uniform (viridis, cividis); for diverging data use RdBu_r centered at 0. Never use jet or rainbow.

Figure Sizing for Journals

Multi-Panel Figures

Use GridSpec for flexible layouts. Label panels with bold uppercase letters (A, B, C):

ax.text(-0.15, 1.05, 'A', transform=ax.transAxes,
        fontsize=10, fontweight='bold', va='top')

Saving Figures (Python)

fig.savefig('figure1.pdf', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight')
fig.savefig('figure1.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight')

R / ggplot2 Figures

Theme Defaults

Use theme_classic as the base and override consistently:

theme_classic(base_size = 14) +
  theme(
    plot.title    = element_text(size = 18, face = "bold", hjust = 0.5),
    axis.title    = element_text(size = 14),
    axis.text     = element_text(size = 12),
    legend.title  = element_text(size = 12),
    legend.text   = element_text(size = 11),
    panel.grid.major.y = element_line(color = "gray90", linetype = "dotted"),
    panel.grid.major.x = element_blank(),
    plot.margin   = margin(t = 20, r = 20, b = 20, l = 40)
  )

• •Legend titles should be lowercase (e.g., "method" not "Method").
• •Legend position: bottom or right as appropriate.

Panel Labels

Use a dedicated helper function for panel labels (A, B, C). Do not use annotate("text"), Inf coordinates, or hardcoded numeric positions. Panel labels belong at the figure level, not inside the ggplot coordinate system.

# Define or source a panel label function
add_panel_label <- function(p, label, x = 0.02, y = 0.99) {
  p + annotation_custom(
    grid::textGrob(label, x = x, y = y,
                   gp = grid::gpar(fontsize = 16, fontface = "bold")),
    xmin = -Inf, xmax = Inf, ymin = -Inf, ymax = Inf
  )
}

p <- add_panel_label(p, "A")

Axis Formatting

• •Numeric x-axes: always set explicit breaks with scale_x_continuous(breaks = ...).
• •Y-axis padding: expand = expansion(mult = c(0, 0.1)) to avoid clipping.
• •Do not alter axis limits unless explicitly needed.

Output Format

Save R figures as PNG only:

ggsave("figure1.png", plot = p, width = 8, height = 6, dpi = 300)

Modification Policy

When editing an existing R figure script:

1. •Read the existing code first.
2. •Apply minimal changes — do not regenerate the full plot.
3. •Do not rewrite data loading, theme, axis code, or geoms unless asked.
4. •Keep exactly the subplots and panels requested — no extra panels or unsolicited summary statistics.

Checklist Before Submission

• •Resolution ≥ 300 DPI, vector format preferred
• •All axes labeled with units
• •Colorblind-friendly palette, interpretable in grayscale
• •Error bars present with type stated in caption
• •Text readable at final print size (≥ 6 pt)
• •No 3D effects, chart junk, or truncated y-axes on bar charts
• •Data source is real (not simulated) unless explicitly approved

Example Prompts

"Run SuSiE on my GWAS summary stats with the provided LD matrix. Use L=5 and 95% coverage."
"Estimate the SNP heritability for my height GWAS using EUR reference"
"Calculate genetic correlations between height, BMI, and educational attainment"
"Simulate a TWAS with 100 genes, 10 causal, h2_cis=0.1"
"Run TWAS on my schizophrenia GWAS using GTEx brain cortex"