[PDF][PDF] hdWGCNA identifies co-expression networks in high-dimensional transcriptomics data

S Morabito, F Reese, N Rahimzadeh, E Miyoshi… - Cell reports …, 2023 - cell.com
Cell reports methods, 2023cell.com
Biological systems are immensely complex, organized into a multi-scale hierarchy of
functional units based on tightly regulated interactions between distinct molecules, cells,
organs, and organisms. While experimental methods enable transcriptome-wide
measurements across millions of cells, popular bioinformatic tools do not support systems-
level analysis. Here we present hdWGCNA, a comprehensive framework for analyzing co-
expression networks in high-dimensional transcriptomics data such as single-cell and …
Summary
Biological systems are immensely complex, organized into a multi-scale hierarchy of functional units based on tightly regulated interactions between distinct molecules, cells, organs, and organisms. While experimental methods enable transcriptome-wide measurements across millions of cells, popular bioinformatic tools do not support systems-level analysis. Here we present hdWGCNA, a comprehensive framework for analyzing co-expression networks in high-dimensional transcriptomics data such as single-cell and spatial RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). hdWGCNA provides functions for network inference, gene module identification, gene enrichment analysis, statistical tests, and data visualization. Beyond conventional single-cell RNA-seq, hdWGCNA is capable of performing isoform-level network analysis using long-read single-cell data. We showcase hdWGCNA using data from autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's disease brain samples, identifying disease-relevant co-expression network modules. hdWGCNA is directly compatible with Seurat, a widely used R package for single-cell and spatial transcriptomics analysis, and we demonstrate the scalability of hdWGCNA by analyzing a dataset containing nearly 1 million cells.
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