Variation in RNA-Seq transcriptome profiles of peripheral whole blood from healthy individuals with and without globin depletion. Homo sapiens

In this study we aimed to assess technical variability associated with globin depletion in addition to assessing general technical variability in RNA-Seq from whole blood derived samples. We compared technical and biological replicates having undergone globin depletion or not and found that globin depletion removed approximately 80% of globin transcripts, improved the correlation of technical replicates, allowed for reliable detection of thousands of additional transcripts and generally increased transcript abundance measures. Overall design: Peripheral whole blood transcriptome assessed by RNA-Seq on Illumina HiSeq 2000 in 6 healthy individuals and 6 pooled samples, either globin depleted or not.