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- Gene Expression Documentation
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- Frequently Asked Questions
- Learn About Single Cell Data Analysis
Gene Sets
CZ CELLxGENE Annotate enables CELLxGENE users to pre-load gene sets for exploration, and to create or modify gene sets while exploring data. This is particularly useful for recording cell type markers when annotating cells. This section explains how to format gene sets data for preloading of gene sets and where to find gene sets information after making changes in the explorer.
To read more about how to use gene sets in the CELLxGENE Annotate and Explorer interfaces, please see Creating a Geneset
Gene Sets Requirements
A gene set must have a unique name. A given gene may be included in multiple gene sets. A gene set may optionally include a description for the entire gene set, and descriptions for each gene included the gene set.
cellxgene CLI Command
Users MAY use --gene-sets-file name_of_file.csv to designate a CSV with preexisting gene sets you would like to view in CELLxGENE Annotate. The CSV MUST follow the format below.
Users MAY use --user-generated-data-dir file_name to designate a file where both gene sets and annotations CSVs will be saved. File names for gene sets and annotations will contain a pseudo-session ID by default. --user-generated-data-dir is incompatible with --gene-sets-file and --annotations-file and will error if used together. See --help for more details.
cellxgene Gene Set CSV Data Format
The CELLxGENE gene set data format is a Tidy CSV (comma-separated values) file using ASCII encoding. Multiple gene sets MAY be included in the file.
The first row MUST contain column headers in the following order:
gene_set_name
gene_set_description
gene_symbol
gene_description
Each row represents a gene in a gene set and must be unique.
Example:
| gene_set_name | gene_set_description | gene_symbol | gene_description |
|---|---|---|---|
| club.cell | description | CCKAR | description |
| club.cell | SCGB3A2 | description | |
| club.cell | CYP2F2 | description | |
| macrophage | description | CD68 | description |
| macrophage | CD163 | description |
Users MAY include additional columns. Once gene sets are edited from CELLxGENE Annotate, the additional columns will no longer be stored in the file designated using the command --gene-sets-file.
gene_set_name
The gene_set_name column MUST contain a value and MUST NOT contain the following ASCII characters or sequences:
control characters (decimal 0-31) DEL (decimal 127) leading spaces (decimal 32) in a field - " This is an example" trailing spaces (decimal 32) in a field - "This is an example " multiple spaces (decimal 32) "internal" to a field - "This is an example"
Note: If gene_symbol(s) for a gene_set_name exist on noncontiguous rows, they will be added to the existing gene set. For example, CD163 below is added to the club.cell gene set:
| gene_set_name | gene_set_description | gene_symbol | gene_description |
|---|---|---|---|
| club.cell | description | CCKAR | description |
| club.cell | SCGB3A2 | description | |
| club.cell | CYP2F2 | description | |
| macrophage | description | CD68 | description |
| club.cell | description |
gene_set_description
Populating gene_set_description is optional. The first instance where gene_set_description is populated for a specific gene_set_name will be surfaced when a user hovers over gene_set_name in CELLxGENE Annotate. All other instances are ignored in subsequent rows for the same gene_set_name.
gene_symbol
A given gene_symbol may only be added once to a gene set and exist as a VAR in the underlying anndata file.
gene_description
Populating gene_description is optional and will be surfaced when a user hovers on gene_symbol in CELLxGENE Annotate or Explorer.