DESeq2 - understanding intercept and contrasts
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sarah-spie ▴ 20
@077463a5
Last seen 2.6 years ago
Austria

Hi!

I have problems understanding the contrasts argument of the results function in DESeq2. This is my dataset:

dds <- makeExampleDESeqDataSet(m = 18)
dds$condition = factor(c("exp", "exp", "exp", "stat", "stat", "stat", "pla", "pla", "pla", "ser.stat", "ser.stat", "ser.stat", "ser.exp", "ser.exp", "ser.exp", "rif.exp", "rif.exp", "rif.exp"))
design(dds) <- ~0 + condition # 0 because no intercept ("control")
dds <- DESeq(dds, betaPrior = FALSE) # betaPrior = FALSE because no intercept

I have 18 samples, 6 conditions with 3 replicates each. I have now a bit of a mixed dataset when it comes to a "control" condition. For example, my "exp" and "stat" are two different treatments for which I would like to perform the DGE, but there's also the comparison of "exp" vs. "rif.exp", for which "exp" would be the control (compound not added) for "rif.exp" (compound added). I therefore decided not to set an intercept, because I do not have a control for all conditions.

Therefore, the following

> resultsNames(dds)
[1] "conditionexp"      "conditionpla"      "conditionrif.exp"  "conditionser.exp"  "conditionser.stat" "conditionstat"

returns 6 conditions.

When I now want my results for one comparison, I run:

padj.cutoff = 0.05
lfc.cutoff = log2(2)

res <- results(dds,
        contrast=c("condition", "exp", "stat"),
        alpha = padj.cutoff, lfcThreshold = lfc.cutoff)

I then cannot run lfcShink because I do not have an intercept. So far so good!

Then, I want to make the comparison between two conditions (averaged) - "exp" & "stat" vs "pla". Now, I don't understand how to specify the contrast, and what nominator/denominator means for listValues.

I am not sure if the following code is correct, but here it is:

results(dds,
        contrast=list("conditionpla", c("conditionexp","conditionstat")),
        listValues=c(1, -1/3),
        alpha = padj.cutoff, lfcThreshold = lfc.cutoff)

Would someone please let me know if my thoughts on the intercept are right, and how I specify the contrast for one condition vs multiple conditions? I could of course run the code twice, once for my one-vs-one condition and once for my one-vs-multiple conditions, or is this cheating because my pvalue are not adjusted correctly, ie. would this be cheating? Thank you!

DESeq2 RNASeq • 2.6k views
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@mikelove
Last seen 8 hours ago
United States

For questions on setting up the statistical design and contrasts, I recommend to consult with a local statistician or someone familiar with linear models in R. I unfortunately have to limit my time on the support site to software-specific questions.

I could of course run the code twice, once for my one-vs-one condition and once for my one-vs-multiple conditions

It's fine to run different models for different contrasts or hypotheses. There are occasions that this makes sense (we list on the FAQ). Per analysis, I am concerned with reporting the FDR within a model, so I don't see an issue.

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Thank you, dear Michael, and thank you for being so active in this forum in general! Could you have a look at this line, in which I wand to compare one vs. two conditions combined:

results(dds,
    contrast=list("conditionpla", c("conditionexp","conditionstat")),
    listValues=c(1, -1/2),
    alpha = padj.cutoff, lfcThreshold = lfc.cutoff)

And tell me if this is correct?

And, what is the difference between

contrast=list("conditionpla", c("conditionexp","conditionstat")),
    listValues=c(1, -1/2)

And

contrast=list("conditionpla", c("conditionstat","conditionexp")),
    listValues=c(1, -1/2)

The first one gives me for results:

conditionpla+conditionstat+conditionexp

And the second one

conditionpla vs 0.5 conditionstat + conditionexp

And the second one is the one I want I believe. Bit it just has conditionexp and conditionstat switched? Does the order of the arguments matter?

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Entering edit mode

Order shouldn’t matter. Can you check again that the first line of code gives the three coefficients with “+”? Eg if you copy the code from the comment back into R you get the coefficients added and no 0.5?

If you can make a reproducible example using makeSimulatedDESeqDataSet with the same design as yours, that’s even better.

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Hi Michael, sorry for not getting back to this earlier. Here is my example:

dds <- makeExampleDESeqDataSet(m = 18)
dds$treatment = factor(c("exp", "exp", "exp", "stat", "stat", "stat", "pla", "pla", "pla", "ser.stat", "ser.stat", "ser.stat", "ser.exp", "ser.exp", "ser.exp", "rif.exp", "rif.exp", "rif.exp"))
design(dds) <- ~0 + treatment
dds <- DESeq(dds, betaPrior = FALSE)

And here's the results that give me a different output based on the order of factors:

> results(dds, contrast=list(c("treatmentpla", c("treatmentexp", "treatmentstat"))), listValues = c(1, -1/2))
log2 fold change (MLE): treatmentpla+treatmentexp+treatmentstat effect 
Wald test p-value: treatmentpla+treatmentexp+treatmentstat effect 
> results(dds, contrast=list(c("treatmentpla"), c("treatmentstat", "treatmentexp")), listValues = c(1, -1/2))
log2 fold change (MLE): treatmentpla vs 0.5 treatmentstat+treatmentexp 
Wald test p-value: treatmentpla vs 0.5 treatmentstat+treatmentexp

And this is what I don't understand -.- My feeling is that the second results is the correct way, but why?

EDIT: I apparently constructed the list for contrasts wrong.

> list(c("treatmentpla", c("treatmentexp", "treatmentstat")))
[[1]]
[1] "treatmentpla"  "treatmentexp"  "treatmentstat"

Really is not the same as:

> list(c("treatmentpla", c("treatmentexp", "treatmentstat")))
[[1]]
[1] "treatmentpla"  "treatmentexp"  "treatmentstat"
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Entering edit mode

Ah, that's it, you've solved the riddle! Yes c() will just concatenate everything, while you want two list elements: list(x, y) where y is a vector.

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thanks again for you help! 🧙

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