bwtool: A tool for bigWig files

BigWig files are a compressed, indexed, binary format for genome-wide signal data for calculations (e.g. GC percent) or experiments (e.g. ChIP-seq/RNA-seq read depth). bwtool is a tool designed to read bigWig files rapidly and efficiently, providing functionality for extracting data and summarizing it in several ways, globally or at specific regions. Additionally, the tool enables the conversion of the positions of signal data from one genome assembly to another, also known as “lifting”. The creators believe bwtool can be very useful for the analyst frequently working with bigWig data, which is becoming a standard format to represent functional signals along genomes.

Availability – bwtool is command-line software for UNIX, a common platform for bioinformatics researchers to conduct analysis. It is available at: http://cromatina.crg.eu/