--- description: Identify genes that are significantly over or under-expressed between conditions in specific cell populations. subtitle: Seurat Toolkit title: Differential gene expression ---
> **Note** > > Code chunks run R commands unless otherwise specified.
In this tutorial we will cover differential gene expression, which comprises an extensive range of topics and methods. In single cell, differential expresison can have multiple functionalities such as identifying marker genes for cell populations, as well as identifying differentially regulated genes across conditions (healthy vs control). We will also cover controlling batch effect in your test. We can first load the data from the clustering session. Moreover, we can already decide which clustering resolution to use. First let's define using the `louvain` clustering to identifying differentially expressed genes. ``` {r} suppressPackageStartupMessages({ library(Seurat) library(dplyr) library(patchwork) library(ggplot2) library(pheatmap) library(enrichR) library(Matrix) library(edgeR) library(MAST) }) ``` ``` {r} # download pre-computed data if missing or long compute fetch_data <- TRUE # url for source and intermediate data path_data <- "https://export.uppmax.uu.se/naiss2023-23-3/workshops/workshop-scrnaseq" path_file <- "data/covid/results/seurat_covid_qc_dr_int_cl.rds" if (!dir.exists(dirname(path_file))) dir.create(dirname(path_file), recursive = TRUE) if (fetch_data && !file.exists(path_file)) download.file(url = file.path(path_data, "covid/results/seurat_covid_qc_dr_int_cl.rds"), destfile = path_file) alldata <- readRDS(path_file) ``` ``` {r} #| fig-height: 5 #| fig-width: 12 # Set the identity as louvain with resolution 0.5 sel.clust <- "CCA_snn_res.0.5" alldata <- SetIdent(alldata, value = sel.clust) table(alldata@active.ident) ``` ``` {r} #| fig-height: 5 #| fig-width: 12 # plot this clustering wrap_plots( DimPlot(alldata, label = T) + NoAxes(), DimPlot(alldata, group.by = "orig.ident") + NoAxes(), DimPlot(alldata, group.by = "type") + NoAxes(), ncol = 3 ) ``` ## Cell marker genes Let us first compute a ranking for the highly differential genes in each cluster. There are many different tests and parameters to be chosen that can be used to refine your results. When looking for marker genes, we want genes that are positively expressed in a cell type and possibly not expressed in others. ``` {r} # Compute differentiall expression markers_genes <- FindAllMarkers( alldata, log2FC.threshold = 0.2, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.1, min.diff.pct = 0.2, only.pos = TRUE, max.cells.per.ident = 50, assay = "RNA" ) ``` We can now select the top 25 overexpressed genes for plotting. ``` {r} markers_genes %>% group_by(cluster) %>% top_n(-25, p_val_adj) -> top25 head(top25) ``` ``` {r} par(mfrow = c(2, 5), mar = c(4, 6, 3, 1)) for (i in unique(top25$cluster)) { barplot(sort(setNames(top25$avg_log2FC, top25$gene)[top25$cluster == i], F), horiz = T, las = 1, main = paste0(i, " vs. rest"), border = "white", yaxs = "i" ) abline(v = c(0, 0.25), lty = c(1, 2)) } ``` We can visualize them as a heatmap. Here we are selecting the top 5. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 8 #| fig-width: 8 markers_genes %>% group_by(cluster) %>% slice_min(p_val_adj, n = 5, with_ties = FALSE) -> top5 # create a scale.data slot for the selected genes alldata <- ScaleData(alldata, features = as.character(unique(top5$gene)), assay = "RNA") DoHeatmap(alldata, features = as.character(unique(top5$gene)), group.by = sel.clust, assay = "RNA") ``` Another way is by representing the overall group expression and detection rates in a dot-plot. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 8 #| fig-width: 8 DotPlot(alldata, features = rev(as.character(unique(top5$gene))), group.by = sel.clust, assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() ``` We can also plot a violin plot for each gene. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 10 #| fig-width: 10 # take top 3 genes per cluster/ top5 %>% group_by(cluster) %>% top_n(-3, p_val) -> top3 # set pt.size to zero if you do not want all the points to hide the violin shapes, or to a small value like 0.1 VlnPlot(alldata, features = as.character(unique(top3$gene)), ncol = 5, group.by = sel.clust, assay = "RNA", pt.size = 0) ```
> **Discuss** > > Take a screenshot of those results and re-run the same code above with > another test: "wilcox" (Wilcoxon Rank Sum test), "bimod" > (Likelihood-ratio test), "roc" (Identifies 'markers' of gene > expression using ROC analysis),"t" (Student's t-test),"negbinom" > (negative binomial generalized linear model),"poisson" (poisson > generalized linear model), "LR" (logistic regression), "MAST" (hurdle > model), "DESeq2" (negative binomial distribution).
### DGE with equal amount of cells The number of cells per cluster differ quite a bit in this data ``` {r} table(alldata@active.ident) ``` Hence when we run `FindAllMarkers` one cluster vs rest, the largest cluster (cluster 0) will dominate the "rest" and influence the results the most. So it is often a good idea to subsample the clusters to an equal number of cells before running differential expression for one vs rest. So lets select 300 cells per cluster: ``` {r} sub <- subset(alldata, cells = WhichCells(alldata, downsample = 300)) table(sub@active.ident) ``` Now rerun `FindAllMarkers` with this set and compare the results. ``` {r} markers_genes_sub <- FindAllMarkers( sub, log2FC.threshold = 0.2, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.1, min.diff.pct = 0.2, only.pos = TRUE, max.cells.per.ident = 50, assay = "RNA" ) ``` The number of significant genes per cluster has changed, with more for some clusters and less for others. ``` {r} table(markers_genes$cluster) table(markers_genes_sub$cluster) ``` ``` {r} #| fig-height: 8 #| fig-width: 8 markers_genes_sub %>% group_by(cluster) %>% slice_min(p_val_adj, n = 5, with_ties = FALSE) -> top5_sub DotPlot(alldata, features = rev(as.character(unique(top5_sub$gene))), group.by = sel.clust, assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() ``` ## DGE across conditions The second way of computing differential expression is to answer which genes are differentially expressed within a cluster. For example, in our case we have libraries comming from patients and controls and we would like to know which genes are influenced the most in a particular cell type. For this end, we will first subset our data for the desired cell cluster, then change the cell identities to the variable of comparison (which now in our case is the **type**, e.g. Covid/Ctrl). ``` {r} # select all cells in cluster 1 cell_selection <- subset(alldata, cells = colnames(alldata)[alldata@meta.data[, sel.clust] == 3]) cell_selection <- SetIdent(cell_selection, value = "type") # Compute differentiall expression DGE_cell_selection <- FindAllMarkers(cell_selection, log2FC.threshold = 0.2, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.1, min.diff.pct = 0.2, only.pos = TRUE, max.cells.per.ident = 50, assay = "RNA" ) ``` We can now plot the expression across the **type**. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 8 DGE_cell_selection %>% group_by(cluster) %>% top_n(-5, p_val) -> top5_cell_selection VlnPlot(cell_selection, features = as.character(unique(top5_cell_selection$gene)), ncol = 5, group.by = "type", assay = "RNA", pt.size = .1) ``` We can also plot these genes across all clusters, but split by **type**, to check if the genes are also over/under expressed in other celltypes. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 12 VlnPlot(alldata, features = as.character(unique(top5_cell_selection$gene)), ncol = 4, split.by = "type", assay = "RNA", pt.size = 0 ) ``` As you can see, we have many sex chromosome related genes among the top DE genes. And if you remember from the QC lab, we have unbalanced sex distribution among our subjects, so this may not be related to covid at all. ### Remove sex chromosome genes To remove some of the bias due to unbalanced sex in the subjects, we can remove the sex chromosome related genes. ``` {r} genes_file <- file.path("data/covid/results/genes_table.csv") if (!file.exists(genes_file)) download.file(file.path(path_data, "covid/results/genes_table.csv"), destfile = genes_file) ``` ``` {r} gene.info <- read.csv(genes_file) # was created in the QC exercise auto.genes <- gene.info$external_gene_name[!(gene.info$chromosome_name %in% c("X", "Y"))] cell_selection@active.assay <- "RNA" keep.genes <- intersect(rownames(cell_selection), auto.genes) cell_selection <- cell_selection[keep.genes, ] # then renormalize the data cell_selection <- NormalizeData(cell_selection) ``` Rerun differential expression: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 10 # Compute differential expression DGE_cell_selection <- FindMarkers(cell_selection, ident.1 = "Covid", ident.2 = "Ctrl", logfc.threshold = 0.2, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.1, min.diff.pct = 0.2, assay = "RNA" ) # Define as Covid or Ctrl in the df and add a gene column DGE_cell_selection$direction <- ifelse(DGE_cell_selection$avg_log2FC > 0, "Covid", "Ctrl") DGE_cell_selection$gene <- rownames(DGE_cell_selection) DGE_cell_selection %>% group_by(direction) %>% top_n(-5, p_val) %>% arrange(direction) -> top5_cell_selection ``` ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 12 VlnPlot(cell_selection, features = as.character(unique(top5_cell_selection$gene)), ncol = 5, group.by = "type", assay = "RNA", pt.size = .1 ) ``` We can also plot these genes across all clusters, but split by **type**, to check if the genes are also over/under expressed in other celltypes/clusters. ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 12 VlnPlot(alldata, features = as.character(unique(top5_cell_selection$gene)), ncol = 4, split.by = "type", assay = "RNA", pt.size = 0 ) ``` ## Patient Batch effects When we are testing for Covid vs Control, we are running a DGE test for 4 vs 4 individuals. That will be very sensitive to sample differences unless we find a way to control for it. So first, let's check how the top DEGs are expressed across the individuals within cluster 3: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 12 VlnPlot(cell_selection, group.by = "orig.ident", features = as.character(unique(top5_cell_selection$gene)), ncol = 4, assay = "RNA", pt.size = 0) ``` As you can see, many of the genes detected as DGE in Covid are unique to one or 2 patients. We can examine more genes with a DotPlot: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 7 #| fig-width: 7 DGE_cell_selection %>% group_by(direction) %>% top_n(-20, p_val) -> top20_cell_selection DotPlot(cell_selection, features = rev(as.character(unique(top20_cell_selection$gene))), group.by = "orig.ident", assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() + RotatedAxis() ``` As you can see, most of the DGEs are driven by the `covid_17` patient. It is also a sample with very high number of cells: ``` {r} table(cell_selection$orig.ident) ``` ## Subsample So one obvious thing to consider is an equal amount of cells per individual so that the DGE results are not dominated by a single sample. We will use the `downsample` option in the Seurat function `WhichCells()` to select 30 cells per cluster: ``` {r} cell_selection <- SetIdent(cell_selection, value = "orig.ident") sub_data <- subset(cell_selection, cells = WhichCells(cell_selection, downsample = 30)) table(sub_data$orig.ident) ``` And now we run DGE analysis again: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 8 sub_data <- SetIdent(sub_data, value = "type") # Compute differentiall expression DGE_sub <- FindMarkers(sub_data, ident.1 = "Covid", ident.2 = "Ctrl", logfc.threshold = 0.2, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.1, min.diff.pct = 0.2, assay = "RNA" ) # Define as Covid or Ctrl in the df and add a gene column DGE_sub$direction <- ifelse(DGE_sub$avg_log2FC > 0, "Covid", "Ctrl") DGE_sub$gene <- rownames(DGE_sub) DGE_sub %>% group_by(direction) %>% top_n(-5, p_val) %>% arrange(direction) -> top5_sub VlnPlot(sub_data, features = as.character(unique(top5_sub$gene)), ncol = 5, group.by = "type", assay = "RNA", pt.size = .1 ) ``` Plot as dotplot, but in the full (not subsampled) data, still only showing cluster 3: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 8 #| fig-width: 8 DGE_sub %>% group_by(direction) %>% top_n(-20, p_val) -> top20_sub DotPlot(cell_selection, features = rev(as.character(unique(top20_sub$gene))), group.by = "orig.ident", assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() + RotatedAxis() ``` It looks much better now. But if we look per patient you can see that we still have some genes that are dominated by a single patient. Why do you think this is? ## Pseudobulk One option is to treat the samples as pseudobulks and do differential expression for the 4 patients vs 4 controls. You do lose some information about cell variability within each patient, but instead you gain the advantage of mainly looking for effects that are seen in multiple patients. However, having only 4 patients is perhaps too low, with many more patients it will work better to run pseudobulk analysis. For a fair comparison we should have equal number of cells per sample when we create the pseudobulk, so we will use the subsampled object. ``` {r} # get the count matrix for all cells DGE_DATA <- sub_data@assays$RNA@counts # Compute pseudobulk mm <- Matrix::sparse.model.matrix(~ 0 + sub_data$orig.ident) pseudobulk <- DGE_DATA %*% mm ``` Then run edgeR: ``` {r} # define the groups bulk.labels <- c("Covid", "Covid", "Covid", "Covid", "Ctrl", "Ctrl", "Ctrl", "Ctrl") dge.list <- DGEList(counts = pseudobulk, group = factor(bulk.labels)) keep <- filterByExpr(dge.list) dge.list <- dge.list[keep, , keep.lib.sizes = FALSE] dge.list <- calcNormFactors(dge.list) design <- model.matrix(~bulk.labels) dge.list <- estimateDisp(dge.list, design) fit <- glmQLFit(dge.list, design) qlf <- glmQLFTest(fit, coef = 2) topTags(qlf) ``` As you can see, we have very few significant genes. Since we only have 4 vs 4 samples, we should not expect to find many genes with this method. Again as dotplot including top 10 genes: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 6 #| fig-width: 6 res.edgeR <- topTags(qlf, 100)$table res.edgeR$dir <- ifelse(res.edgeR$logFC > 0, "Covid", "Ctrl") res.edgeR$gene <- rownames(res.edgeR) res.edgeR %>% group_by(dir) %>% top_n(-10, PValue) %>% arrange(dir) -> top.edgeR DotPlot(cell_selection, features = as.character(unique(top.edgeR$gene)), group.by = "orig.ident", assay = "RNA" ) + coord_flip() + ggtitle("EdgeR pseudobulk") + RotatedAxis() ``` As you can see, even if we find few genes, they seem to make sense across all the patients. ## MAST random effect MAST has the option to add a random effect for the patient when running DGE analysis. It is quite slow, even with this small dataset, so it may not be practical for a larger dataset unless you have access to a compute cluster. We will run MAST with and without patient info as random effect and compare the results First, filter genes in part to speed up the process but also to avoid too many warnings in the model fitting step of MAST. We will keep genes that are expressed with at least 2 reads in 2 covid patients or 2 controls. ``` {r} # select genes that are expressed in at least 2 patients or 2 ctrls with > 2 reads. nPatient <- sapply(unique(cell_selection$orig.ident), function(x) { rowSums(cell_selection@assays$RNA@counts[, cell_selection$orig.ident == x] > 2) }) nCovid <- rowSums(nPatient[, 1:4] > 2) nCtrl <- rowSums(nPatient[, 5:8] > 2) sel <- nCovid >= 2 | nCtrl >= 2 cell_selection_sub <- cell_selection[sel, ] ``` Set up the MAST object. ``` {r} # create the feature data fData <- data.frame(primerid = rownames(cell_selection_sub)) m <- cell_selection_sub@meta.data m$wellKey <- rownames(m) # make sure type and orig.ident are factors m$orig.ident <- factor(m$orig.ident) m$type <- factor(m$type) sca <- MAST::FromMatrix( exprsArray = as.matrix(x = cell_selection_sub@assays$RNA@data), check_sanity = FALSE, cData = m, fData = fData ) ``` First, run the regular MAST analysis without random effects ``` {r} # takes a while to run, so save a file to tmpdir in case you have to rerun the code tmpdir <- "data/covid/results/tmp_dge" dir.create(tmpdir, showWarnings = F) tmpfile1 <- file.path(tmpdir, "mast_bayesglm_cl3.Rds") if (file.exists(tmpfile1)) { fcHurdle1 <- readRDS(tmpfile1) } else { zlmCond <- suppressMessages(MAST::zlm(~ type + nFeature_RNA, sca, method = "bayesglm", ebayes = T)) summaryCond <- suppressMessages(MAST::summary(zlmCond, doLRT = "typeCtrl")) summaryDt <- summaryCond$datatable fcHurdle <- merge(summaryDt[summaryDt$contrast == "typeCtrl" & summaryDt$component == "logFC", c(1, 7, 5, 6, 8)], summaryDt[summaryDt$contrast == "typeCtrl" & summaryDt$component == "H", c(1, 4)], by = "primerid") fcHurdle1 <- stats::na.omit(as.data.frame(fcHurdle)) saveRDS(fcHurdle1, tmpfile1) } ``` Then run MAST with glmer and random effect. ``` {r} #| results: hide library(lme4) tmpfile2 <- file.path(tmpdir, "mast_glme_cl3.Rds") if (file.exists(tmpfile2)) { fcHurdle2 <- readRDS(tmpfile2) } else { zlmCond <- suppressMessages(MAST::zlm(~ type + nFeature_RNA + (1 | orig.ident), sca, method = "glmer", ebayes = F, strictConvergence = FALSE )) summaryCond <- suppressMessages(MAST::summary(zlmCond, doLRT = "typeCtrl")) summaryDt <- summaryCond$datatable fcHurdle <- merge(summaryDt[summaryDt$contrast == "typeCtrl" & summaryDt$component == "logFC", c(1, 7, 5, 6, 8)], summaryDt[summaryDt$contrast == "typeCtrl" & summaryDt$component == "H", c(1, 4)], by = "primerid") fcHurdle2 <- stats::na.omit(as.data.frame(fcHurdle)) saveRDS(fcHurdle2, tmpfile2) } ``` Top genes with normal MAST: ``` {r} top1 <- head(fcHurdle1[order(fcHurdle1$`Pr(>Chisq)`), ], 10) top1 fcHurdle1$pval <- fcHurdle1$`Pr(>Chisq)` fcHurdle1$dir <- ifelse(fcHurdle1$z > 0, "Ctrl", "Covid") fcHurdle1 %>% group_by(dir) %>% top_n(-10, pval) %>% arrange(z) -> mastN mastN <- mastN$primerid ``` Top genes with random effect: ``` {r} top2 <- head(fcHurdle2[order(fcHurdle2$`Pr(>Chisq)`), ], 10) top2 fcHurdle2$pval <- fcHurdle2$`Pr(>Chisq)` fcHurdle2$dir <- ifelse(fcHurdle2$z > 0, "Ctrl", "Covid") fcHurdle2 %>% group_by(dir) %>% top_n(-10, pval) %>% arrange(z) -> mastR mastR <- mastR$primerid ``` As you can see, we have lower significance for the genes with the random effect added. Dotplot for top 10 genes in each direction: ``` {r} #| fig-height: 7 #| fig-width: 13 p1 <- DotPlot(cell_selection, features = mastN, group.by = "orig.ident", assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() + RotatedAxis() + ggtitle("Regular MAST") p2 <- DotPlot(cell_selection, features = mastR, group.by = "orig.ident", assay = "RNA") + coord_flip() + RotatedAxis() + ggtitle("With random effect") p1 + p2 ```
> **Discuss** > > You have now run DGE analysis for Covid vs Ctrl in cluster 3 with > several diffent methods. Have a look at the different results. Where > did you get more/less significant genes? Which results would you like > to present in a paper? Discuss with a neighbor which one you think > looks best and why.
## Gene Set Analysis (GSA) ### Hypergeometric enrichment test Having a defined list of differentially expressed genes, you can now look for their combined function using hypergeometric test. In this case we will use the DGE from MAST with random effect to run enrichment analysis. ``` {r} # Load additional packages library(enrichR) # Check available databases to perform enrichment (then choose one) enrichR::listEnrichrDbs() # Perform enrichment enrich_results <- enrichr( genes = fcHurdle2$primerid[fcHurdle2$z < 0 & fcHurdle2$pval < 0.05], databases = "GO_Biological_Process_2017b" )[[1]] ``` Some databases of interest:\ `GO_Biological_Process_2017b``KEGG_2019_Human``KEGG_2019_Mouse``WikiPathways_2019_Human``WikiPathways_2019_Mouse`\ You visualize your results using a simple barplot, for example: ``` {r} par(mfrow = c(1, 1), mar = c(3, 25, 2, 1)) barplot( height = -log10(enrich_results$P.value)[10:1], names.arg = enrich_results$Term[10:1], horiz = TRUE, las = 1, border = FALSE, cex.names = .6 ) abline(v = c(-log10(0.05)), lty = 2) abline(v = 0, lty = 1) ``` ## Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) Besides the enrichment using hypergeometric test, we can also perform gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), which scores ranked genes list (usually based on fold changes) and computes permutation test to check if a particular gene set is more present in the Up-regulated genes, among the DOWN_regulated genes or not differentially regulated. Before, we ran `FindMarkers()` with the default settings for reporting only significantly up/down regulated genes, but now we need statistics on a larger set of genes, so we will have to rerun the test with more lenient cutoffs. ``` {r} sub_data <- SetIdent(sub_data, value = "type") DGE_cell_selection2 <- FindMarkers( sub_data, ident.1 = "Covid", log2FC.threshold = -Inf, test.use = "wilcox", min.pct = 0.05, min.diff.pct = 0, only.pos = FALSE, max.cells.per.ident = 50, assay = "RNA" ) # Create a gene rank based on the gene expression fold change gene_rank <- setNames(DGE_cell_selection2$avg_log2FC, casefold(rownames(DGE_cell_selection2), upper = T)) ``` Once our list of genes are sorted, we can proceed with the enrichment itself. We can use the package to get gene set from the Molecular Signature Database (MSigDB) and select KEGG pathways as an example. ``` {r} library(msigdbr) # Download gene sets msigdbgmt <- msigdbr::msigdbr("Homo sapiens") msigdbgmt <- as.data.frame(msigdbgmt) # List available gene sets unique(msigdbgmt$gs_subcat) # Subset which gene set you want to use. msigdbgmt_subset <- msigdbgmt[msigdbgmt$gs_subcat == "CP:WIKIPATHWAYS", ] gmt <- lapply(unique(msigdbgmt_subset$gs_name), function(x) { msigdbgmt_subset[msigdbgmt_subset$gs_name == x, "gene_symbol"] }) names(gmt) <- unique(paste0(msigdbgmt_subset$gs_name, "_", msigdbgmt_subset$gs_exact_source)) ``` Next, we will run GSEA. This will result in a table containing information for several pathways. We can then sort and filter those pathways to visualize only the top ones. You can select/filter them by either `p-value` or normalized enrichment score (`NES`). ``` {r} #| fig-height: 5 #| fig-width: 12 library(fgsea) # Perform enrichemnt analysis fgseaRes <- fgsea(pathways = gmt, stats = gene_rank, minSize = 15, maxSize = 500) fgseaRes <- fgseaRes[order(fgseaRes$pval, decreasing = T), ] # Filter the results table to show only the top 10 UP or DOWN regulated processes (optional) top10_UP <- fgseaRes$pathway[1:10] # Nice summary table (shown as a plot) plotGseaTable(gmt[top10_UP], gene_rank, fgseaRes, gseaParam = 0.5) ```
> **Discuss** > > Which KEGG pathways are upregulated in this cluster? Which KEGG > pathways are dowregulated in this cluster? Change the pathway source > to another gene set (e.g. CP:WIKIPATHWAYS or CP:REACTOME or > CP:BIOCARTA or GO:BP) and check the if you get similar results?
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