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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Analysis of low-correlated spatial gene expression patterns: A clustering approach in the mouse brain data hosted in the Allen Brain Atlas

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The Allen Brain Atlas (ABA) provides a similar gene expression dataset by genome-scale mapping of the C57BL/6J mouse brain. In this study, the authors describe a method to extract the spatial information of gene expression patterns across a set of 1047 genes. The genes were chosen from among the 4104 genes having the lowest Pearson correlation coefficient used to compare the expression patterns across voxels in a single hemisphere for available coronal and sagittal volumes. The set of genes analysed in this study is the one discarded in the article by Bohland et al. , which was considered to be of a lower consistency, not a reliable dataset. Following a normalisation task with a global and local approach, voxels were clustered using hierarchical and partitioning clustering techniques. Cluster analysis and a validation method based on entropy and purity were performed. They analyse the resulting clusters of the mouse brain for different number of groups and compared them with a classically-defined anatomical reference atlas. The high degree of correspondence between clusters and anatomical regions highlights how gene expression patterns with a low Pearson correlation coefficient between sagittal and coronal sections can accurately identify different neuroanatomical regions.