Detects somatic mutations in circulating tumor DNA using variant callers optimized for low allele fractions with UMI-based error suppression. Reliably detects mutations at VAF above 0.5 percent using consensus-based approaches. Use when identifying tumor mutations from plasma DNA or tracking specific variants.
npx skills add https://github.com/BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills --skill bio-ctdna-mutation-detection
Reference examples tested with: Ensembl VEP 111+, SnpEff 5.2+, VarDict 1.8+, pandas 2.2+, pysam 0.22+
Before using code patterns, verify installed versions match. If versions differ:
pip show <package> then help(module.function) to check signatures<tool> --version then <tool> --help to confirm flagsIf code throws ImportError, AttributeError, or TypeError, introspect the installed
package and adapt the example to match the actual API rather than retrying.
"Detect mutations in my cfDNA sample" → Identify somatic variants at low allele fractions (0.1-1%) from cell-free DNA using error-suppressed consensus calling and specialized callers.
vardict-java for low-VAF variant calling from cfDNADetect somatic mutations in cfDNA at low variant allele fractions.
| Requirement | Specification |
|-------------|---------------|
| Data type | Targeted panel or WES (NOT sWGS) |
| Depth | >= 1000x for low VAF detection |
| UMIs | Highly recommended for < 1% VAF |
| Input | Preprocessed BAM (UMI consensus if available) |
| VAF Range | Reliability | Notes |
|-----------|-------------|-------|
| > 1% | Reliable | Standard callers work |
| 0.5-1% | Good with UMIs | Requires error suppression |
| 0.1-0.5% | Challenging | Needs deep UMI consensus |
| < 0.1% | Unreliable | Near noise floor |
# VarDict is highly sensitive for low VAF
# Use on UMI-consensus BAM for best results
vardict-java \
-G reference.fa \
-f 0.005 \ # Min VAF 0.5%
-N sample_id \
-b sample.bam \
-c 1 -S 2 -E 3 -g 4 \
regions.bed | \
teststrandbias.R | \
var2vcf_valid.pl \
-N sample_id \
-E \
-f 0.005 \
> sample.vcf
import subprocess
import pandas as pd
import pysam
def call_variants_vardict(bam_file, reference, bed_file, output_vcf, min_vaf=0.005, min_depth=100):
'''
Call variants with VarDict.
Args:
bam_file: UMI-consensus BAM preferred
reference: Reference FASTA
bed_file: Target regions BED
output_vcf: Output VCF path
min_vaf: Minimum VAF (0.005 = 0.5%)
min_depth: Minimum read depth
'''
sample_id = bam_file.split('/')[-1].replace('.bam', '')
cmd = f'''
vardict-java \
-G {reference} \
-f {min_vaf} \
-N {sample_id} \
-b {bam_file} \
-c 1 -S 2 -E 3 -g 4 \
{bed_file} | \
teststrandbias.R | \
var2vcf_valid.pl \
-N {sample_id} \
-E \
-f {min_vaf} \
> {output_vcf}
'''
subprocess.run(cmd, shell=True, check=True)
return output_vcf
def filter_ctdna_variants(vcf_file, chip_genes=None):
'''
Filter ctDNA variants, removing CHIP.
CHIP genes commonly mutated in elderly:
DNMT3A, TET2, ASXL1, PPM1D, TP53, SF3B1, etc.
'''
if chip_genes is None:
chip_genes = ['DNMT3A', 'TET2', 'ASXL1', 'PPM1D', 'JAK2',
'SF3B1', 'SRSF2', 'TP53', 'CBL', 'BCOR']
import vcfpy
reader = vcfpy.Reader.from_path(vcf_file)
somatic = []
chip = []
for record in reader:
gene = record.INFO.get('GENE', [''])[0]
if gene in chip_genes:
chip.append(record)
else:
somatic.append(record)
print(f'Somatic variants: {len(somatic)}')
print(f'Potential CHIP variants: {len(chip)}')
return somatic, chip
def call_with_umi_varcal(bam_file, reference, bed_file, output_vcf, min_vaf=0.005):
'''
UMI-VarCal: Best specificity with UMI data.
'''
subprocess.run([
'umi-varcal',
'--bam', bam_file,
'--ref', reference,
'--bed', bed_file,
'--out', output_vcf,
'--min-vaf', str(min_vaf),
'--min-alt-reads', '3',
'--min-depth', '100'
], check=True)
def annotate_ctdna_variants(vcf_file, output_vcf):
'''Annotate variants with clinically relevant information.'''
# Use VEP or snpEff for annotation
subprocess.run([
'vep',
'--input_file', vcf_file,
'--output_file', output_vcf,
'--format', 'vcf',
'--vcf',
'--cache',
'--canonical',
'--protein',
'--sift', 'b',
'--polyphen', 'b',
'--af_gnomad'
], check=True)
Goal: Quantify the variant allele fraction of specific known mutations across serial liquid biopsy samples for minimal residual disease monitoring.
Approach: For each target mutation, pileup reads at the variant position, count reference and alternative alleles, and compute VAF with depth statistics.
def track_specific_mutations(bam_file, mutations, min_depth=100):
'''
Track specific known mutations across samples.
Useful for MRD monitoring.
Args:
bam_file: Aligned BAM
mutations: List of (chrom, pos, ref, alt) tuples
'''
import pysam
bam = pysam.AlignmentFile(bam_file, 'rb')
results = []
for chrom, pos, ref, alt in mutations:
counts = {'ref': 0, 'alt': 0, 'other': 0}
for pileupcolumn in bam.pileup(chrom, pos-1, pos):
if pileupcolumn.pos != pos - 1:
continue
for read in pileupcolumn.pileups:
if read.is_del or read.is_refskip:
continue
base = read.alignment.query_sequence[read.query_position]
if base == ref:
counts['ref'] += 1
elif base == alt:
counts['alt'] += 1
else:
counts['other'] += 1
total = counts['ref'] + counts['alt'] + counts['other']
vaf = counts['alt'] / total if total > 0 else 0
results.append({
'chrom': chrom, 'pos': pos, 'ref': ref, 'alt': alt,
'depth': total, 'alt_count': counts['alt'], 'vaf': vaf
})
bam.close()
return pd.DataFrame(results)
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Build and distribute Expo development clients locally or via TestFlight
Use when you have a written implementation plan to execute in a separate session with review checkpoints
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Take biotender-max/bio-ctdna-mutation-detection from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
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same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.