If counts are normalized and log-transformed so that they have roughly a "normal" distribution, can I take the mean of biological replicates to consolidate them to a family average? I know that log transformation of numbers are not additive so that:
log2(raw_count) = 2^(log2)
However given that I've removed technical variation and transformed counts to be in a roughly normal distribution it seems that by averaging this information I'm creating a new variable which may be more powerful:
Ex: Say after normalization I have 2 biological replicates with the following log2 values at a single transcript:
(bio.rep1 = 0, bio.rep2 = 3)
If I exponentiate counts, then take mean
2^(0) + 2^(3) = 1 + 8 = 9 / 2 = 4.5
if using the normalized values:
0 + 3 = 3/2 = 1.5
