load_file: Load a GTF or GFF3 file from GENCODE as a data frame.
Description
This function imports a GTF or GFF3 file (commonly from the GENCODE website) and converts it into a data frame.
The function provides flexibility for users to work with genomic feature files easily in the R environment.
Usage
load_file(filename)
Value
A data frame containing the parsed content of the GTF or GFF3 file.
The data frame includes standard columns such as 'seqnames', 'start', 'end', 'strand', 'feature', and 'gene_id', among others.
Arguments
filename
A character string representing the path to the GTF or GFF3 file (e.g., "gencode.vM36.annotation.gtf.gz").
The file could be in GTF or GFF3 format and must be downloaded from a reliable source like GENCODE.
Details
The function uses the rtracklayer package to import the GTF or GFF3 file and returns it as a data frame.
The user should ensure that the input file is properly formatted and accessible from the specified path.
Files larger than a few hundred MBs may take longer to load and process.