Tensor-cell2cell v2 unravels coordinated dynamics of protein- and metabolite-mediated cell-cell communication

Cell-cell communication dynamically changes across time while involving diverse cell populations and ligand types such as proteins and metabolites. Single-cell transcriptomics enables its inference, but existing tools typically analyze ligand types separately and overlook their coordinated activity. Here, we present Tensor-cell2cell v2, a computational tool that can jointly analyze protein- and metabolite-mediated communication over time using coupled tensor component analysis, while preserving each modality of inferred communication scores independently, as well as their data structures and distributions. Applied to brain organoid development, Tensor-cell2cell v2 uncovers dynamic, coordinated communication programs involving key proteins and metabolites across relevant cell types and specific time points.

Tensor-cell2cell v2 and its new coupled tensor component analysis are implemented in Python and available as part of the cell2cell framework at https://github.com/earmingol/cell2cell. This python library is available on PyPI. Code for the analyses of this manuscript can be found in a Code Ocean capsule at https://doi.org/10.24433/CO.0061424.v3, where analyses can be also run and reproduced online. Tutorials can be found at https://cell2cell.readthedocs.io.