Detection of A-to-I Hyper-edited RNA Sequences

Following A-to-I editing of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules, sequencing reactions interpret the edited inosine (I) as guanosine (G). For this reason, current methods to detect A-to-I editing sites work to align RNA sequences to their reference DNA sequence in order to reveal A-to-G mismatches. However, areas with heavily edited reads produce dense clusters of A-to-G mismatches that hinder alignment, and complicate correct identification of the sites. The presented approach employs prudent alignment and examination of excessive mismatch events, enabling high-accuracy detection of hyper-edited reads and sites.