How many markers are needed to robustly determine a cell's type?

ABSTRACT: Our understanding of cell types has advanced considerably with the publication of single-cell atlases. Marker genes play an essential role for experimental validation and computational analyses such as physiological characterization, annotation, and deconvolution. However, a framework for quantifying marker replicability and selecting replicable markers is currently lacking. Here, using high-quality data from the Brain Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN), we systematically investigate marker replicability for 85 neuronal cell types. We show that, due to dataset-specific noise, we need to combine 5 datasets to obtain robust differentially expressed (DE) genes, particularly for rare populations and lowly expressed genes. We estimate that 10 to 200 meta-analytic markers provide optimal dow

SUBMITTER: Fischer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8571500 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature