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Analyzing spatial transcriptomic data involves several steps, including quality control, data pre-processing, spatial mapping, cell-type identification, differential expression analysis, and functional analysis. Here are the main steps involved in spatial transcriptomic data analysis:
Quality control: This step involves checking the quality of the sequencing reads using tools such as FastQC. If the quality is low, the data may need to be re-sequenced or filtered to remove low-quality reads or adapter sequences. Data pre-processing: This step involves filtering out low-quality cells, normalizing the data, and identifying highly variable genes using tools such as ST Pipeline or STARmap. Spatial mapping: This step involves mapping the transcriptomic data to the spatial coordinates of the tissue sections using tools such as ST Pipeline or STARmap. This produces a spatial expression matrix that contains the expression levels of each gene in each spatial location. Cell-type identification: This step involves identifying the cell types that are present in each spatial location using tools such as CellFinder or SpatialDE. Differential expression analysis: This step involves identifying genes that are differentially expressed between different spatial locations or cell types. This can be done using tools such as ST Pipeline or SpatialDE. Functional analysis: This step involves interpreting the differentially expressed genes by performing pathway or gene ontology analysis. This can be done using tools such as GSEA or Enrichr. Data visualization: This step involves visualizing the results of the analysis using tools such as heatmaps, spatial plots, or 3D visualizations. Overall, analyzing spatial transcriptomic data is a complex process that involves several steps and tools. It is important to carefully QC the data, choose appropriate normalization and statistical methods, and interpret the results in the context of the biological question being studied. Additionally, there are specialized tools and methods available for different types of spatial transcriptomic data, such as MERFISH or CODEX, which may require different analysis pipelines.