Disparities in spatially variable gene calling highlight the need for benchmarking spatial transcriptomics methods

Abstract Identifying spatially variable genes (SVGs) is a key step in the analysis of spatially resolved transcriptomics data. SVGs provide biological insights by defining transcriptomic differences within tissues, which was previously unachievable using RNA-sequencing technologies. However, the inc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Natalie Charitakis, Agus Salim, Adam T. Piers, Kevin I. Watt, Enzo R. Porrello, David A. Elliott, Mirana Ramialison
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2023-09-01
Series:Genome Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-023-03045-1
Description
Summary:Abstract Identifying spatially variable genes (SVGs) is a key step in the analysis of spatially resolved transcriptomics data. SVGs provide biological insights by defining transcriptomic differences within tissues, which was previously unachievable using RNA-sequencing technologies. However, the increasing number of published tools designed to define SVG sets currently lack benchmarking methods to accurately assess performance. This study compares results of 6 purpose-built packages for SVG identification across 9 public and 5 simulated datasets and highlights discrepancies between results. Additional tools for generation of simulated data and development of benchmarking methods are required to improve methods for identifying SVGs.
ISSN:1474-760X