T-test in limma
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@zhangjianhai-12955
Last seen 4.2 years ago

Dear all,

I am confused about how t-test or F-test is implemented in limma/edgeR.

Let's say I have a small dataset: two conditions, each condition has 3 replicates, and there are 4 genes.

Con1 rep1 Con1 rep2 Con1 rep3 Con2 rep1 Con2 rep2 Con2 rep3
gene1          
gene2          
gene3          
gene4          

My questions is if I use limma/edgeR to analyze the DEGs across the two conditions, does limma first use the regular t-test to calculate if the mean of con1 is significantly different from the mean of con2 for each gene independently? And gets a regular t-statistic? Then use eBayes to adjust the regular t statistic and get the moderated t?

Look forward to your reply.

Regards.

limma t test • 972 views
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@gordon-smyth
Last seen 32 minutes ago
WEHI, Melbourne, Australia

No, that is not how it works.

If you want to know how the mathematics works, then read the relevant published papers. Type ?eBayes and look at the list of references. The relevant papers are either Smyth (2004) or Phipson et al (2016).

The bottom line though is that you don't need to understand any of the maths to use the software.

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If it does not work like I said, is the DEG calculation process in limma/edgeR essentially based on t-test/F-test? If not, what test is the foundation?

Regards.

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Yes, the tests in limma are closely analogous to ordinary t-tests and F-tests and can be thought of as equivalent to them when you make conclusions.

That is all explained in the limma documentation and in the references that I listed. See for example Chapter 13 of the limma User's Guide. Even just reading the ?eBayes help page would give you some pointers as to the relationship between ordinary t-tests and moderated t-tests.

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Thank you very much, got it!

Regards.

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