Identification of Human Cell Cycle Phase Markers Based on Single-Cell RNA-Seq Data by Using Machine Learning Methods.

Journal: BioMed research international
Published Date:

Abstract

The cell cycle is composed of a series of ordered, highly regulated processes through which a cell grows and duplicates its genome and eventually divides into two daughter cells. According to the complex changes in cell structure and biosynthesis, the cell cycle is divided into four phases: gap 1 (G1), DNA synthesis (S), gap 2 (G2), and mitosis (M). Determining which cell cycle phases a cell is in is critical to the research of cancer development and pharmacy for targeting cell cycle. However, current detection methods have the following problems: (1) they are complicated and time consuming to perform, and (2) they cannot detect the cell cycle on a large scale. Rapid developments in single-cell technology have made dissecting cells on a large scale possible with unprecedented resolution. In the present research, we construct efficient classifiers and identify essential gene biomarkers based on single-cell RNA sequencing data through Boruta and three feature ranking algorithms (e.g., mRMR, MCFS, and SHAP by LightGBM) by utilizing four advanced classification algorithms. Meanwhile, we mine a series of classification rules that can distinguish different cell cycle phases. Collectively, we have provided a novel method for determining the cell cycle and identified new potential cell cycle-related genes, thereby contributing to the understanding of the processes that regulate the cell cycle.

Authors

  • FeiMing Huang
    School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
  • Lei Chen
    Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University Stony Brook NY USA.
  • Wei Guo
    Emergency Department, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
  • Tao Huang
    The Second Clinical Medical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
  • Yu-Dong Cai
    College of Life Science, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.