Long-read based detection of large copy number variants with potential functional significance using the ContextSV structural variant caller.

Abstract

Long-read sequencing enables improved detection of structural variants (SVs) in the human genome due to its substantially increased read lengths. However, currently widely used long-read SV callers primarily rely on alignment-based evidence, limiting their ability to detect large and complex SVs and potentially missing disease-relevant events. To address these limitations, we developed ContextSV, a framework that integrates alignment evidence with copy number predictions derived from sequencing coverage and single-nucleotide variant allele frequencies to improve SV detection, particularly for large copy number variants (CNVs). We additionally developed ContextScore, a machine learning-based classification model to assign SV confidence scores based on genomic context features and integrated it within ContextSV. Through benchmarking analyses on both simulated and real datasets, we demonstrate that ContextSV improves detection of large CNVs and inversions that may be missed by existing long-read SV callers. We further illustrate its utility by identifying and experimentally validating multiple large SVs in the KOLF2.1J reference stem cell line that were not detected by other methods. Collectively, our results demonstrate that ContextSV serves as a valuable complement to existing long-read SV detection approaches by improving sensitivity for large and clinically relevant SVs.