panomiX: Investigating Mechanisms Of Trait Emergence Through Multi-Omics Data Integration

Abstract

Abstract Complex omics approaches and high-throughput phenotyping generate large, heterogeneous datasets that make linking molecular signatures to plant traits challenging. To address this challenge, here we introduce panomiX, a user-friendly toolbox for multi-omics integration, designed to enable non-experts to apply advanced computational methods with ease. panomiX automates data preprocessing, variance analysis, multi-omics prediction, and interaction modeling through machine learning, revealing meaningful molecular interactions and synergies. We applied panomiX to a tomato heat-stress experiment combining image-based phenotyping, transcriptomics, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy data, with the aim of identification of condition-specific, cross-domain relationships between gene expression, metabolite levels, and phenotypic traits. Our approach identified a network of such connections, with those linking photosynthesis traits with stress-responsive kinases in elevated temperatures among most significant ones. By simplifying complex analyses and improving interpretability, panomiX offers a platform to accelerate the discovery of trait emergence in plants and select specific candidate genes based on multi-omics analyses.

Code and data availability

The paper's computational analysis assets are publicly available: the panomiX toolbox source code (GitHub) and its deployed Shiny app, plus the authors' rnaseq-mapper pipeline used to process this study's RNA-seq data. No public deposit of the paper-specific phenotype/FTIR/RNA-seq datasets is stated in the supplied.