Model-based prediction of spatial gene expression via generative linear mapping

Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 17;12(1):3731. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24014-x.

Abstract

Decoding spatial transcriptomes from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data has become a fundamental technique for understanding multicellular systems; however, existing computational methods lack both accuracy and biological interpretability due to their model-free frameworks. Here, we introduce Perler, a model-based method to integrate scRNA-seq data with reference in situ hybridization (ISH) data. To calibrate differences between these datasets, we develop a biologically interpretable model that uses generative linear mapping based on a Gaussian mixture model using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm. Perler accurately predicts the spatial gene expression of Drosophila embryos, zebrafish embryos, mammalian liver, and mouse visual cortex from scRNA-seq data. Furthermore, the reconstructed transcriptomes do not over-fit the ISH data and preserved the timing information of the scRNA-seq data. These results demonstrate the generalizability of Perler for dataset integration, thereby providing a biologically interpretable framework for accurate reconstruction of spatial transcriptomes in any multicellular system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Cell Polarity / genetics
  • Computational Biology / methods*
  • Databases, Genetic
  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / genetics*
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Liver / growth & development
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Models, Theoretical
  • RNA-Seq
  • Single-Cell Analysis
  • Spatial Analysis
  • Transcriptome / genetics*
  • Visual Cortex / growth & development
  • Visual Cortex / metabolism
  • Zebrafish / embryology
  • Zebrafish / genetics
  • Zebrafish / metabolism