Hi,

I have discovered some unusual calls in my VCF file after using HaplotypeCaller. I am using version 3.3 of GATK. I applied VQSR as well as the genotype refinement workflow (CalculateGenotypePosteriors, etc.) to refine the calls, but the unusual calls did not get removed. I also calculated the number of Mendelian error just in the biallelic SNPs in my final VCF file (using PLINK) and found unusually high percentage for each of the 3 families I am studying: 0.153%, 0.167%, and 0.25%. The percentage of triallelic SNPs is also very high: 0.111%. Why are the error rates so high?

I used the following commands to call the variants and generate the initial VCF file:

HaplotypeCaller (generate gvcf files for each individual for each chromosome

java -Xmx1g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T HaplotypeCaller -R hs37d5.fa -I recal_${ROOT}.bam -o ${outpath}raw_${ROOT}.vcf --emitRefConfidence GVCF --variant_index_type LINEAR --variant_index_parameter 128000

GenotypeGVCFs (generate vcf files for each chr)

java -Xmx1g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -R hs37d5.fa -T GenotypeGVCFs -V vcfs.chr${numchr}.new.list -o final_chr${numchr}.vcf -L ${numchr}

CatVariants (generate 1 vcf file with all inds and all chrs)

java -Xmx1g -cp GenomeAnalysisTK.jar org.broadinstitute.gatk.tools.CatVariants -R hs37d5.fa -V final.new.list -out final_allHutt.vcf -assumeSorted

VQSR

java -Xmx4g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T VariantRecalibrator -R hs37d5.fa -input final_allHutt.vcf -resource:hapmap,known=false,training=true,truth=true,prior=15.0 hapmap_3.3.b37.vcf -resource:omni,known=false,training=true,truth=true,prior=12.0 1000G_omni2.5.b37.vcf -resource:1000G,known=false,training=true,truth=false,prior=10.0 1000G_phase1.snps.high_confidence.b37.vcf -resource:dbsnp,known=true,training=false,truth=false,prior=2.0 dbsnp_138.b37.vcf -an QD -an MQ -an MQRankSum -an ReadPosRankSum -an FS -an SOR -an DP -mode SNP -tranche 100.0 -tranche 99.9 -tranche 99.0 -tranche 90.0 --disable_auto_index_creation_and_locking_when_reading_rods -recalFile recalibrate_SNP_allHutt_2.recal -tranchesFile recalibrate_SNP_allHutt_2.tranches

Used excludeFiltered here

java -Xmx3g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T ApplyRecalibration -R hs37d5.fa -input final_allHutt.vcf -mode SNP --ts_filter_level 99.9 --excludeFiltered --disable_auto_index_creation_and_locking_when_reading_rods -recalFile recalibrate_SNP_allHutt_2.recal -tranchesFile recalibrate_SNP_allHutt_2.tranches -o recalibrated_snps_raw_indels_allHutt_filteredout.vcf

java -Xmx3g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T VariantRecalibrator -R hs37d5.fa -input recalibrated_snps_raw_indels_allHutt_filteredout.vcf -resource:mills,known=false,training=true,truth=true,prior=12.0 Mills_and_1000G_gold_standard.indels.b37.vcf -resource:dbsnp,known=true,training=false,truth=false,prior=2.0 dbsnp_138.b37.vcf -an QD -an DP -an FS -an SOR -an ReadPosRankSum -an MQRankSum -mode INDEL -tranche 100.0 -tranche 99.9 -tranche 99.0 -tranche 90.0 --maxGaussians 4 --disable_auto_index_creation_and_locking_when_reading_rods -recalFile recalibrate_INDEL_allHutt_filteredout.recal -tranchesFile recalibrate_INDEL_allHutt_filteredout.tranches

Used excludeFiltered here

java -Xmx3g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T ApplyRecalibration -R hs37d5.fa -input recalibrated_snps_raw_indels_allHutt_filteredout.vcf -mode INDEL --ts_filter_level 99.0 --excludeFiltered --disable_auto_index_creation_and_locking_when_reading_rods -recalFile recalibrate_INDEL_allHutt_filteredout.recal -tranchesFile recalibrate_INDEL_allHutt_filteredout.tranches -o recalibrated_variants_allHutt_filteredout.vcf

Genotype Refinement Workflow

java -Xmx3g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T CalculateGenotypePosteriors -R hs37d5.fa --supporting ALL.wgs.phase3_shapeit2_mvncall_integrated_v5.20130502.sites.vcf -ped Hutt.ped -V recalibrated_variants_allHutt_filteredout.vcf -o recalibrated_variants_allHutt.postCGP.f.vcf

java -Xmx3g -jar GenomeAnalysisTK.jar -T VariantFiltration -R hs37d5.fa -V recalibrated_variants_allHutt.postCGP.f.vcf -G_filter "GQ < 20.0" -G_filterName lowGQ -o recalibrated_variants_allHutt.postCGP.Gfiltered.f.vcf

Again, the first genotype in this example (indel) passed VariantFiltration even though its coverage was zero (2/2:0,0,0:0:PASS)

The entire example is below:

1 20199272 . T TCTTC,C 3520.08 PASS AC=8,22;AF=0.160,0.440;AN=50;BaseQRankSum=-1.356e+00;ClippingRankSum=-1.267e+00;DP=487;FS=4.843;GQ_MEAN=27.84;GQ_STDDEV=40.31;InbreedingCoeff=0.1002;MLEAC=1,12;MLEAF=0.020,0.240;MQ=51.74;MQ0=0;MQRankSum=0.421;NCC=2;PG=0,0,0,0,0,0;QD=32.53;ReadPosRankSum=1.27;SOR=0.699;VQSLOD=0.687;culprit=FS GT:AD:DP:FT:GQ:PGT:PID:PL:PP 2/2:0,0,0:0:PASS:22:.:.:410,207,355,32,22,0:410,207,355,32,22,0 2/2:0,0,1:1:lowGQ:5:.:.:240,51,36,18,5,0:240,51,36,18,5,0 0/2:4,0,4:8:PASS:90:.:.:140,153,256,0,103,90:140,153,256,0,103,90 0/0:22,0,0:22:lowGQ:0:.:.:0,0,390,0,390,390:0,0,390,0,390,390 0/0:2,0,0:2:lowGQ:3:.:.:0,3,45,3,45,45:0,3,45,3,45,45 2/2:0,0,3:3:lowGQ:11:.:.:287,135,124,21,11,0:287,135,124,21,11,0 ./.:7,0,0:7:PASS 2/2:0,0,3:4:lowGQ:11:.:.:282,126,115,22,11,0:282,126,115,22,11,0 0/2:10,0,0:10:lowGQ:5:.:.:27,5,494,0,411,405:27,5,494,0,411,405 0/2:7,0,0:7:lowGQ:13:.:.:13,15,502,0,303,288:13,15,502,0,303,288 0/1:8,6,0:14:PASS:99:.:.:194,0,255,218,273,491:194,0,255,218,273,491 0/0:18,0,0:18:PASS:52:.:.:0,52,755,52,755,755:0,52,755,52,755,755 2/2:0,0,0:0:PASS:23:.:.:305,168,416,23,30,0:305,168,416,23,30,0 0/2:0,0,4:4:lowGQ:14:.:.:40,14,634,0,185,699:40,14,634,0,185,699 0/0:19,0,0:19:PASS:58:.:.:0,58,824,58,824,824:0,58,824,58,824,824 0/0:1,0,0:1:lowGQ:6:0|1:20199257_CT_C:0,6,91,6,91,91:0,6,91,6,91,91 1/1:0,0,0:0:lowGQ:2:.:.:177,11,0,12,2,44:177,11,0,12,2,44 0/1:0,0,3:3:PASS:34:.:.:94,0,388,34,38,304:94,0,388,34,38,304 0/2:15,0,2:17:lowGQ:18:0|1:20199249_CT_C:18,64,695,0,632,624:18,64,695,0,632,624 1/1:0,0,0:0:lowGQ:8:.:.:133,8,0,101,17,265:133,8,0,101,17,265 0/2:3,0,0:3:PASS:25:.:.:129,25,484,0,121,94:129,25,484,0,121,94 0/2:2,0,0:2:PASS:38:.:.:185,38,644,0,88,42:185,38,644,0,88,42 0/2:2,0,0:2:lowGQ:14:.:.:256,14,293,0,57,41:256,14,293,0,57,41./.:11,0,0:11:PASS 1/2:0,0,1:1:lowGQ:14:.:.:115,24,14,36,0,359:115,24,14,36,0,359 1/2:0,0,1:1:PASS:28:.:.:188,39,28,35,0,206:188,39,28,35,0,206 2/2:0,0,3:3:lowGQ:8:1|1:20199249_CT_C:88,88,89,8,9,0:88,88,89,8,9,0

Why are some genotypes being passed when there is no support for their genotype? Why are the Mendelian error rates so high?

Thank you very much in advance,
Alva