FACTERA: a practical method for the discovery of genomic rearrangements at breakpoint resolution

A Summary: For practical and robust de novo identification of genomic fusions and breakpoints from targeted paired-end DNA sequencing data, we developed Fusion And Chromosomal Translocation Enumeration and Recovery Algorithm (FACTERA). Our method has minimal external dependencies, works directly on a preexisting Binary Alignment/Map file and produces easily interpretable output. We demonstrate FACTERA's ability to rapidly identify breakpoint-resolution fusion events with high sensitivity and specificity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, including novel rearrangements. We anticipate that FACTERA will be broadly applicable to the discovery and analysis of clinically relevant fusions from both targeted and genome-wide sequencing datasets.