Giotto: a toolbox for integrative analysis and visualization of spatial expression data
Ruben Dries, Qian Zhu, Rui Dong, Chee-Huat Linus Eng, Huipeng Li, Kan Liu, Yuntian Fu, Tianxiao Zhao, Arpan Sarkar, Feng Bao, Rani E. George, Nico Pierson, Long Cai, Guo‐Cheng Yuan
Abstract
Spatial transcriptomic and proteomic technologies have provided new opportunities to investigate cells in their native microenvironment. Here we present Giotto, a comprehensive and open-source toolbox for spatial data analysis and visualization. The analysis module provides end-to-end analysis by implementing a wide range of algorithms for characterizing tissue composition, spatial expression patterns, and cellular interactions. Furthermore, single-cell RNAseq data can be integrated for spatial cell-type enrichment analysis. The visualization module allows users to interactively visualize analysis outputs and imaging features. To demonstrate its general applicability, we apply Giotto to a wide range of datasets encompassing diverse technologies and platforms.