Identification of Chimeric RNAs Using RNA-Seq Reads and Protein–Protein Interactions of Translated Chimeras

Chimeric RNA moieties typically consist of exons from two genes expressed from different genomic locations and produced by chromosomal translocations, trans-splicing or transcription errors. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing procedures have opened new horizons for identification of novel chimeric transcripts in various diseases in a personalized manner. Here we describe the detailed computational procedures to identify chimeric transcripts using RNA-seq reads. Moreover, we elaborate on the domain–domain co-occurrence method to detect alterations in chimeric protein–protein interaction (ChiPPI) networks produced by chimeric RNA that are translated to chimeric proteins.