In hirscheylab/tidybiology: Utility Functions and Data Sets for Tidy Biology

knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE)
library(tidyverse)
library(knitr)
hook_output <- knit_hooks$get("output")
knit_hooks$set(output = function(x, options) {
  lines <- options$output.lines
  if (is.null(lines)) {
    return(hook_output(x, options))  # pass to default hook
  }
  x <- unlist(strsplit(x, "\n"))
  more <- "..."
  if (length(lines)==1) {        # first n lines
    if (length(x) > lines) {
      # truncate the output, but add ....
      x <- c(head(x, lines), more)
    }
  } else {
    x <- c(more, x[lines], more)
  }
  # paste these lines together
  x <- paste(c(x, ""), collapse = "\n")
  hook_output(x, options)
})

Loading the scRNAseq dataset into RStudio

The datasets can be found in the scRNAseq package (TODO: on the Hirsheylab Github page)

To install and load the packages, run the following

devtools::install_github("devangthakkar/scRNAseq")
library(scRNAseq)

Inspecting the scRNAseq dataset

Use the dim() function to see how many rows (observations) and columns (variables) there are

Inspecting the scRNAseq dataset

Use the glimpse() function to see what kinds of variables the dataset contains

Basic Data Types in R

R has 6 basic data ypes -

character - "two", "words"

numeric - 2, 11.5

integer - 2L (the L tells R to store this as an integer)

logical - TRUE, FALSE

complex - 1+4i

(raw)

You will also come across the double datatype. It is the same as numeric

factor. A factor is a collection of ordered character variables

Basic Data Types in R

In addition to the glimpse() function, you can use the class() function to determine the data type of a specific column

(Re)Introducing %>%

The %>% operator is a way of "chaining" together strings of commands that make reading your code easy. The following code chunk illustrates how %>% works

The above code chunk does the following - it takes you dataset, scRNAseq, and "pipes" it into select()

(Re)Introducing %>%

The second line selects just the columns named gene_name and transcript_length and "pipes" that into filter(). The final line selects genes that have transcripts longer than 50000 base pairs

When you see %>%, think "and then"

The alternative to using %>% is running the following code

Although this is only one line as opposed to three, it's both more difficult to write and more difficult to read

Introducing the main dplyr verbs {.build}

dplyr is a package that contains a suite of functions that allow you to easily manipulate a dataset

Some of the things you can do are -

• select rows and columns that match specific criteria

• create new variables (columns)

• obtain summary statistics on individual groups within your datsets

The main verbs we will cover are select(), filter(), arrange(), mutate(), and summarise(). These all combine naturally with group_by() which allows you to perform any operation "by group"

select()

The select() verb allows you to extract specific columns from your dataset

The most basic select() is one where you comma separate a list of columns you want included

For example, if you only want to select the gene_name and transcript_length columns, run the following code chunk

select()

If you want to select all columns except transcript_length, run the following

select()

You can also provide a range of columns to return two columns and everything in between. For example

This code selects the following columns - chromosome_scaffold_name, strand, transcript_start_bp, transcript_end_bp, and transcript_length.

There are multiple helpers you can use with select to subset columns such as starts_with(), endswith(), and contains().

This code selects the following columns - transcript_start_bp, transcript_end_bp, transcript_length, and transcript_stable_id.

Finally, you can add multiple possible conditions that can be matched. We do this using the OR operator |.

This code selects the following columns - gene_name, transcript_start_bp, transcript_end_bp, transcript_length, and transcript_stable_id.

select() exercise

Select the following columns - gene_name, organ, cell_1, cell_2, cell_3, cell_4, cell_5, cell_6, cell_7, cell_8, cell_9, and cell_10

filter()

The filter() verb allows you to choose rows based on certain condition(s) and discard everything else

All filters are performed on some logical statement

If a row meets the condition of this statement (i.e. is true) then it gets chosen (or "filtered"). All other rows are discarded

filter()

Filtering can be performed on categorical data

The code chunk above only shows you genes that are specifically expressed in the heart

Note that filter() only applies to rows, and has no effect on columns

filter()

Filtering can also be performed on numerical data

For example, to select genes with a transcript_length value that is greater than 50000, run the following code

filter()

To filter on multiple conditions, you can write a sequence of filter() commands

For example, to choose genes specifically expressed in the brain and a transcript_length value that is less than 1000 bp

filter()

To avoid writing multiple filter() commands, multiple logical statements can be put inside a single filter() command, separated by commas

We've looked at the OR operator | before. The comma , in the statement above is the same as using an AND operator &.

filter() exercise

Filter all genes specifically expressed in either the heart or the brain and a gene_percent_gc_content value that is greater than 50

| = "or"

> = "greater than"

arrange()

You can use the arrange() verb to sort rows

The input for arrange is one or many columns, and arrange() sorts the rows in ascending order i.e. from smallest to largest

For example, to sort rows from smallest to largest gene, run the following

arrange()

To reverse this order, use the desc() function within arrange()

arrange() exercise

What happens when you apply arrange() to a categorical variable?

mutate()

The mutate() verb, unlike the ones covered so far, creates new variable(s) i.e. new column(s). For example

The code chunk above takes all the elements of the column transcript_length, evaluates the square root of each element, and populates a new column called sqrt_length with these results

mutate()

Multiple columns can be used as inputs. For example

This code takes the end position and start position of each gene and calculates its gene length (which is different from its transcript_length)

The results are stored in a new column called gene_length

mutate() exercise

Create a new column (give it any name you like) and fill it with the intronic lengths. Remember, introns are genic regions that are not transcribed.

summarise()

summarise() produces a new dataframe that aggregates that values of a column based on a certain condition.

For example, to calculate the mean transcript length and percent gc content, run the following

summarise()

You can assign your own names by running the following

summarise() exercise

Make a new table that contains the mean, median and standard deviations of gene transcript lengths

Use the median() and sd() functions to calculate median and standard deviation

group_by()

group_by() and summarise() can be used in combination to summarise by groups

For example, if you'd like to know the mean transcript length of genes associated with heart, brain, and other organs, run the following

Saving a new dataset

If you'd like to save the output of your wrangling, you will need to use the assignment <- or = operators

If you only assign the value to a variable, you will not see any output. In order to see the output of your operations, we can look at what is stored in the output variable.

To save output as a new file (e.g. csv)

For more help

Run the following to access the Dplyr vignette

browseVignettes("dplyr")

hirscheylab/tidybiology documentation built on May 20, 2022, 10:55 p.m.