Figure 1
Schematic illustration regarding investigating cancer attractors using scRNA-seq data. (A) Depicts an example of the dispersion plot regarding the expression level of genes A and B in an illustrative group of cells. The colors differentiate each cluster with similar expression levels, which are supposed to reflect similar biological regulation constraints. (B) Represents a possible interpretation of each cluster’s stability. (I) Illustrate the clusters as two broader stabilities, called basins of attraction. (II) Represents each cluster as a group of smaller basins, each with its attractors. The dotted green arrows point to the transitions. When the attractors are accessible within the same genetic and/or environmental conditions, we call multistability. When they can’t traverse to each other and depend on genetic and/or environmental changes, we call alternative stable states. In this case, these changes lead to a shift in the equilibrium states. (C) Depicts the uncertainty regarding the underlying dynamics that lead the cells’ gene expression to stay mainly limited to the cluster’s region, here called confidence region. The point dot red arrows indicate the biological constraints pushing the system toward the regions. (D) Illustrate different attractor possibilities. (I) The crosses represent the fixed points of stochastic dynamics. The black color illustrates stability in the cluster centroid coordinate and the yellow color other stable states, either alternative stable states or multistability. (II) Shows the possibility of underlying multiple limit cycles (closed orbits). The black color illustrates the presence of a single attractor, while the yellow represents the possibility of multiple attractors (alternative stable states or multistability). (E) Illustrates the dimensional information loss when projecting from 3D to 2D marker space, which justifies the investigation using confidence regions to study the stability and underlying dynamics.
