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# Selecting Genes from a DEG List
- URL: https://bioinformatics.ghost.io/selecting-genes-from-dge-lists/
- Published: 2018-09-27T04:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-28T12:45:47.000Z
- Author: Aarthi Ramakrishnan
- Tags: Bioinformatics, #Import 2026-08-27 15:19

Let's consider the scenario where we would like to select genes from a differential expression analysis list that show at least 30% increase or 30% decrease in expression. This can be confusing at first if you attempt it based on the log fold change values. So let's look into this further -

**Case 1 - 30% Increase:** 

Let's assume the expression of gene X is 10 in the control condition and 13 in the treatment condition. In this case, gene X is up-regulated and there is a 30% increase in expression (13-10)/10\. In this case, the foldChange would be 13/10 = **1.3\.** And the log2FoldChange would be log2(13/10) = **0.378\.** Therefore, one may use a log2FoldChange threshold of 0.378 and above to obtain genes that are up-regulated with at least 30% increase.

**Case 2 - 30% Decrease:** 

Assuming the expression of gene X is 10 in the control condition and 7 in the treatment condition, gene X is down-regulated and there is a 30% decrease in expression (7-10)/10\. In this case, foldChange = 7/10 = **0.7** and the log2FoldChange = log2(7/10) = **\-0.514\.** Therefore, one may use a log2FoldChange threshold of -0.514 (and below) to obtain genes that are down-regulated with at least 30% decrease.

**Convert log2FoldChange to foldChange:** 

2^log2FoldChange = foldChange. For example: 2 ^ -0.514 = 0.7