Inferring cell-specific gene regulatory networks based on causal graph embedding

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) at single-cell resolution provide a fundamental framework for understanding cellular functions and regulatory mechanisms. However, existing methods often focus on regulatory relationships among genes while overlooking intercellular heterogeneity and global expression organization across cell populations. Here, we present CSGRN, a supervised computational framework that integrates graph embedding and conditional cell-specific networks (CCSNs) to infer GRNs for individual cells from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. By incorporating causal regulatory structures and integrating local and global representations, CSGRN improves the accuracy and robustness of regulatory network inference. Benchmark analyses across three datasets demonstrated that CSGRN outperforms nine existing approaches. In addition, we developed two downstream analytical strategies-signal flow analysis and gene perturbation simulation-to quantify regulatory relationships and explore regulatory dynamics. These analyses reveal cell type-specific regulatory programs and key regulators involved in cellular differentiation and disease-related processes, providing a framework for investigating gene regulation in complex biological systems.