SomaticSiMu: a mutational signature simulator

SomaticSiMu is an in silico simulator of single and double base substitutions, and single base insertions and deletions in an input genomic sequence to mimic mutational signatures. SomaticSiMu outputs simulated DNA sequences and mutational catalogues with imposed mutational signatures. The tool is the first mutational signature simulator featuring a graphical user interface, control of mutation rates and built-in visualization tools of the simulated mutations. Simulated datasets are useful as a ground truth to test the accuracy and sensitivity of DNA sequence classification tools and mutational signature extraction tools under different experimental scenarios. The reliability of SomaticSiMu was affirmed by (i) supervised machine learning classification of simulated sequences with different mutation types and burdens, and (ii) mutational signature extraction from simulated mutational catalogues.

Automated summary

SomaticSiMu is a mutational signature simulator that allows for the simulation of single and double base substitutions, as well as base insertions and deletions in a genomic sequence. It provides a graphical user interface, control of mutation rates, and built-in visualization tools for the simulated mutations. This tool can be used to generate simulated datasets for testing the accuracy and sensitivity of DNA sequence classification tools and mutational signature extraction tools.