Revealing Dynamics of Gene Expression Variability in Cell State Space

To decipher cell state transitions from single-cell transcriptomes it is crucial to quantify weak expression of lineage determining factors, requiring computational methods sensitive to variability of lowly expressed genes. We here introduce VarID, a computational method that identifies locally homogenous neighborhoods in cell state space, permitting the quantification of local gene expression variability. VarID delineates neighborhoods with differential gene expression variability and reveals pseudo-temporal dynamics of variability during differentiation.