Arowana: A Transformer-Based Training Framework for RNA Basecalling and Modification Detection

Abstract

Machine-learning methods have enabled RNA modification detection from nanopore direct RNA sequencing. However, the existing nanopore-based RNA modification detection tools are limited, as each modification model requires a large amount of data and compute resources for training. Here we developed arowana, a transformer-based training framework for basecaller and RNA modification detection. We trained arowana modification callers and showed their ability to detect nine modifications stemming from the four nucleotide bases accurately. This demonstrates arowana’s potential to be expanded to other modifications.

Cite

Text

Wan et al. "Arowana: A Transformer-Based Training Framework for RNA Basecalling and Modification Detection." ICLR 2025 Workshops: AI4NA, 2025.

Markdown

[Wan et al. "Arowana: A Transformer-Based Training Framework for RNA Basecalling and Modification Detection." ICLR 2025 Workshops: AI4NA, 2025.](https://mlanthology.org/iclrw/2025/wan2025iclrw-arowana/)

BibTeX

@inproceedings{wan2025iclrw-arowana,
  title     = {{Arowana: A Transformer-Based Training Framework for RNA Basecalling and Modification Detection}},
  author    = {Wan, Yuk Kei and Hendra, Christopher and Chia, Bing Shao and Chew, Wei Leong and Goeke, Jonathan},
  booktitle = {ICLR 2025 Workshops: AI4NA},
  year      = {2025},
  url       = {https://mlanthology.org/iclrw/2025/wan2025iclrw-arowana/}
}