Tree‐ensemble analysis assesses presence of multifurcations in single cell data

Abstract

We introduce TreeTop, an algorithm for single cell data analysis to identify and assign a branching score to branch points in biological processes which may have multi‐level branching hierarchies. We demonstrate branch point identification for processes with varying topologies, including T‐cell maturation, B‐cell differentiation and hematopoiesis. Our analyses are consistent with recent experimental studies suggesting a shallower hierarchy of differentiation events in hematopoiesis, rather than the classical multi‐level hierarchy.