|
| 1 | +=== |
| 2 | +FAQ |
| 3 | +=== |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +Frequently asked questions about SuShiE. |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +General Questions |
| 8 | +================= |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +What is SuShiE? |
| 11 | +--------------- |
| 12 | +SuShiE (Sum of Shared Single Effect) is a Bayesian fine-mapping method designed for multi-ancestry genetic studies. It identifies causal variants while accounting for effect size correlations across ancestries. |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +When should I use SuShiE vs single-ancestry SuSiE? |
| 15 | +-------------------------------------------------- |
| 16 | +Use SuShiE when you have genetic data from multiple ancestries and want to: |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +- Leverage shared genetic architecture across populations |
| 19 | +- Improve fine-mapping resolution through diverse LD patterns |
| 20 | +- Estimate effect size correlations across ancestries |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +Use single-ancestry SuSiE (via ``--meta`` or ``--mega`` flags) when: |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +- You only have data from one ancestry |
| 25 | +- You want to compare results with multi-ancestry SuShiE |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +What data formats does SuShiE support? |
| 28 | +-------------------------------------- |
| 29 | +**Genotype data:** |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +- PLINK (.bed/.bim/.fam) |
| 32 | +- VCF (.vcf, .vcf.gz) |
| 33 | +- BGEN (.bgen) |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +**Phenotype/Covariate data:** |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +- Tab-separated text files |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +**Summary statistics:** |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +- Tab-separated GWAS files with Z-scores or effect sizes |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +Parameters |
| 44 | +========== |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +How do I choose the number of causal variants (L)? |
| 47 | +-------------------------------------------------- |
| 48 | +The ``-L`` parameter specifies the maximum number of causal variants. Recommendations: |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +- Start with ``-L 10`` (default) for most fine-mapping analyses |
| 51 | +- Increase if you expect more causal variants in the region |
| 52 | +- The algorithm will only identify credible sets for true signals |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +What does the ``--rho`` parameter do? |
| 55 | +------------------------------------- |
| 56 | +The ``--rho`` parameter sets the prior correlation of effect sizes across ancestries: |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +- ``--rho 0.0``: Assumes independent effects (equivalent to ``--indep``) |
| 59 | +- ``--rho 1.0``: Assumes perfectly correlated effects |
| 60 | +- Default: Learns correlation from data (recommended) |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +When should I use ``--no-update``? |
| 63 | +---------------------------------- |
| 64 | +Use ``--no-update`` to disable prior updates during inference: |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +- When you have strong prior beliefs about effect distributions |
| 67 | +- For faster runtime on large datasets |
| 68 | +- When empirical Bayes updates cause convergence issues |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +Output Files |
| 71 | +============ |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +What is a credible set? |
| 74 | +----------------------- |
| 75 | +A credible set is a set of SNPs that contains the causal variant with high probability (default 95%). SuShiE outputs: |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +- SNPs in each credible set |
| 78 | +- Posterior inclusion probabilities (PIPs) |
| 79 | +- Purity scores (minimum LD among SNPs in the set) |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +How do I interpret the PIP? |
| 82 | +--------------------------- |
| 83 | +The Posterior Inclusion Probability (PIP) represents the probability that a SNP is causal: |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +- PIP > 0.9: Strong evidence for causality |
| 86 | +- PIP 0.5-0.9: Moderate evidence |
| 87 | +- PIP < 0.5: Weak evidence |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +Higher PIPs in credible sets indicate better fine-mapping resolution. |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +What does purity mean? |
| 92 | +---------------------- |
| 93 | +Purity is the minimum absolute correlation (r²) between any pair of SNPs in a credible set: |
| 94 | + |
| 95 | +- High purity (>0.5): SNPs are in high LD, harder to distinguish |
| 96 | +- Low purity: SNPs are more independent, but set may contain false positives |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +The ``--purity`` threshold (default 0.5) filters out low-quality credible sets. |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +Performance |
| 101 | +=========== |
| 102 | + |
| 103 | +How can I speed up SuShiE? |
| 104 | +-------------------------- |
| 105 | +Several options to improve performance: |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +1. **Use GPU acceleration:** |
| 108 | + |
| 109 | + .. code-block:: bash |
| 110 | +
|
| 111 | + export JAX_PLATFORM_NAME=gpu |
| 112 | + sushie finemap ... |
| 113 | +
|
| 114 | +2. **Reduce iterations:** |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | + .. code-block:: bash |
| 117 | +
|
| 118 | + sushie finemap --max-iter 100 ... |
| 119 | +
|
| 120 | +3. **Use summary statistics** instead of individual-level data when available |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +4. **Limit SNPs** for purity calculation: |
| 123 | + |
| 124 | + .. code-block:: bash |
| 125 | +
|
| 126 | + sushie finemap --max-select 500 ... |
| 127 | +
|
| 128 | +How much memory does SuShiE need? |
| 129 | +--------------------------------- |
| 130 | +Memory usage depends on: |
| 131 | + |
| 132 | +- Number of samples (N) |
| 133 | +- Number of SNPs (P) |
| 134 | +- Number of ancestries (K) |
| 135 | + |
| 136 | +Rough estimate: ``N × P × K × 8 bytes`` for genotype storage. |
| 137 | + |
| 138 | +For large datasets, consider: |
| 139 | + |
| 140 | +- Using summary-level inference |
| 141 | +- Analyzing smaller genomic regions |
| 142 | +- Running on a high-memory compute node |
| 143 | + |
| 144 | +Errors |
| 145 | +====== |
| 146 | + |
| 147 | +"LD matrix is not positive semi-definite" |
| 148 | +----------------------------------------- |
| 149 | +This error occurs with summary-level data when the LD matrix has numerical issues: |
| 150 | + |
| 151 | +- Ensure LD was computed from a sufficiently large reference panel |
| 152 | +- Check for missing or mismatched SNPs |
| 153 | +- Try adding a small ridge regularization term |
| 154 | + |
| 155 | +"No credible sets found" |
| 156 | +------------------------ |
| 157 | +This may indicate: |
| 158 | + |
| 159 | +- No significant signal in the region |
| 160 | +- Too stringent purity threshold (try ``--purity 0.1``) |
| 161 | +- Convergence issues (check ELBO in output) |
| 162 | + |
| 163 | +"Sample sizes don't match" |
| 164 | +-------------------------- |
| 165 | +For summary-level data, ensure: |
| 166 | + |
| 167 | +- ``--sample-size`` matches the number of ancestries |
| 168 | +- Sample sizes correspond to the correct GWAS files (in order) |
0 commit comments