Cytosplore EvoViewer: Visual Analytics of Conserved Evolutionary Patterns in multi-species single-cell sequencing data

IEEE Pacific Visualization Conference (PacificVis), pp. 149–159

Abstract

Single-cell transcriptomics has enhanced our understanding of the brain’s cellular composition. Biologists now analyze complex datasets to explore how marker genes influence biological processes, genetic variations, and phenotypic traits. A challenge is comparing these datasets across species to detect subtle differences or similarities to evolutionary development. Here, we present Cytosplore EvoViewer to facilitate examining relationships between transcriptomic datasets across species, simplifying the analysis of marker gene regulation and its impact on biological functions and integrating these findings with prior evolutionary knowledge or species-specific traits. We conducted a design study, including domain analysis, implementation of the results into Cytosplore EvoViewer, and an expert evaluation. Cytosplore EvoViewer offers valuable insights into genetic variations and evolutionary dynamics, helping to understand the diversity and the unity within diversity across species and their evolutionary development.The Cytosplore EvoViewer installer application can be downloaded from the Cytosplore Viewer website1, and its source code is available on the ManiVault Studio GitHub2.1https://viewer.cytosplore.org2https://github.com/ManiVaultStudio/CytosploreEvoViewer

Authors 8

1. Soumyadeep Basu Aachen

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Medical Center

2. Morgan E. Wirthlin

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

   Affiliation as printed

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

3. Jeroen Eggermont Aachen

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Medical Center

4. Thomas Kroes Aachen

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Medical Center

5. Boudewijn P. F. Lelieveldt Aachen

   Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Medical Center

6. Ed S. Lein

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

   Affiliation as printed

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

7. Trygve E. Bakken

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

   Affiliation as printed

   Allen Institute for Brain Science

8. Thomas Höllt

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology