ENCODE ChIP-seq Pipeline

When to Use

• User wants to run a ChIP-seq processing pipeline from FASTQ to peaks and signal tracks
• User asks about "ChIP-seq pipeline", "MACS2", "peak calling", "BWA alignment for ChIP", or "IDR"
• User needs to process histone or TF ChIP-seq data following ENCODE standards
• Example queries: "process my ChIP-seq FASTQs", "run the ENCODE ChIP-seq pipeline", "call peaks from ChIP-seq with MACS2 and IDR"

Execute the ENCODE ChIP-seq processing pipeline from raw FASTQ files through peak calling, IDR analysis, and signal track generation. This skill provides a complete Nextflow DSL2 implementation following ENCODE uniform analysis standards.

Overview

The ENCODE ChIP-seq pipeline processes chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing data through a series of well-defined stages: quality control, adapter trimming, alignment to a reference genome, filtering and deduplication, peak calling with MACS2, replicate consistency analysis via IDR, and signal track generation. Each stage is parameterized according to ENCODE standards and produces QC metrics for comprehensive quality assessment.

This pipeline handles both transcription factor (TF) ChIP-seq and histone modification ChIP-seq, automatically selecting narrow or broad peak calling modes as appropriate.

Key Literature

Pipeline Stages

FASTQ ──> FastQC / Trim Galore ──> BWA-MEM ──> Samtools Filter ──> Picard MarkDup
  │                                                                       │
  │           ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  │           v
  │     Blacklist Filter ──> MACS2 Peak Calling ──> IDR Analysis
  │                                │                     │
  │                                v                     v
  │                         Signal Tracks          QC Report (MultiQC)
  │                          (bigWig)
  v
 Raw QC Report

Stage Summary

Input Requirements

Required Files

• Treatment FASTQ: ChIP sample reads (single-end or paired-end, gzipped)
• Control FASTQ: Input/IgG control reads (matching single-end or paired-end)
• Reference genome: BWA-indexed genome (GRCh38 for human, mm10 for mouse)

Sample Sheet Format

sample_id,treatment_r1,treatment_r2,control_r1,control_r2,target,peak_type
SAMPLE1,chip_R1.fq.gz,chip_R2.fq.gz,input_R1.fq.gz,input_R2.fq.gz,H3K27ac,narrow
SAMPLE2,chip_R1.fq.gz,chip_R2.fq.gz,input_R1.fq.gz,input_R2.fq.gz,H3K27me3,broad

Narrow vs Broad Peak Mode Decision

QC Thresholds

These thresholds follow ENCODE standards established by Landt et al. 2012 and the ENCODE DCC quality metrics documentation.

Interpreting QC: Traffic Light System

Important: No single metric is sufficient. Interpret QC collectively. A sample with borderline NRF but excellent FRiP may still be usable.

Execution

Quick Start (Local Docker)

nextflow run scripts/main.nf \
  -profile local \
  --reads 'fastq/*_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --control 'fastq/input_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --genome GRCh38 \
  --peak_type narrow \
  --outdir results/

SLURM HPC

nextflow run scripts/main.nf \
  -profile slurm \
  --reads 'fastq/*_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --control 'fastq/input_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --genome GRCh38 \
  --peak_type narrow \
  --outdir results/

Google Cloud

nextflow run scripts/main.nf \
  -profile gcp \
  --reads 'gs://bucket/fastq/*_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --control 'gs://bucket/fastq/input_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --genome GRCh38 \
  --outdir 'gs://bucket/results/'

AWS Batch

nextflow run scripts/main.nf \
  -profile aws \
  --reads 's3://bucket/fastq/*_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --control 's3://bucket/fastq/input_R{1,2}.fq.gz' \
  --genome GRCh38 \
  --outdir 's3://bucket/results/'

Cloud Cost Estimates

Output Directory Structure

results/
  fastqc/                   # Raw and trimmed QC reports
  trimmed/                  # Trimmed FASTQ files
  aligned/                  # Sorted BAM files
  filtered/                 # Filtered, deduplicated BAM
  peaks/
    narrow/                 # narrowPeak files (TF, active histone marks)
    broad/                  # broadPeak files (repressive marks)
    idr/                    # IDR-filtered reproducible peaks
  signal/
    fold_change/            # Fold change over control (bigWig)
    pvalue/                 # Signal p-value tracks (bigWig)
  qc/
    phantompeakqualtools/   # NSC/RSC strand correlation
    multiqc/                # Aggregated QC report
  logs/                     # Nextflow execution logs

Common Pitfalls

1. Missing Input Control

ChIP-seq requires a matched input (or IgG) control for accurate peak calling. Without it, MACS2 will call peaks against a uniform background model