Beyond comparisons of means: understanding changes in gene expression at the single-cell level

• DOI: 10.1186/s13059-016-0930-3
• Publication Date: 2016-04-15T04:02:23Z
• Authors: Catalina A. Vallejos; Sylvia Richardson; John C. Marioni
• Keywords: Normalization; Expression (computer science); Human genetics

Traditional differential expression tools are limited to detecting changes in overall expression, and fail uncover the rich information provided by single-cell level data sets. We present a Bayesian hierarchical model that builds upon BASiCS study lie beyond comparisons of means, incorporating built-in normalization quantifying technical artifacts borrowing from spike-in genes. Using probabilistic approach, we highlight genes undergoing cell-to-cell heterogeneity but whose remains unchanged. Control experiments validate our method’s performance case suggests novel biological insights can be revealed. Our method is implemented R available at https://github.com/catavallejos/BASiCS .