PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Rui Fu AU - Austin E. Gillen AU - Ryan M. Sheridan AU - Chengzhe Tian AU - Michelle Daya AU - Yue Hao AU - Jay R. Hesselberth AU - Kent A. Riemondy TI - clustifyr: An R package for automated single-cell RNA sequencing cluster classification AID - 10.1101/855064 DP - 2019 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 855064 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/26/855064.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/26/855064.full AB - Background In single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis, assignment of likely cell types remains a time-consuming, error-prone, and biased process. Current packages for identity assignment use limited types of reference data, and often have rigid data structure requirements. As such, a more flexible tool, capable of handling multiple types of reference data and data structures, would be beneficial.Findings To address difficulties in cluster identity assignment, we developed the clustifyr R package. The package leverages external datasets, including gene expression profiles from scRNA-seq, bulk RNA-seq, microarray expression data, and/or signature gene lists, to assign likely cell types. We benchmark various parameters of a correlation-based approach, and also implement a variety of gene list enrichment methods. By providing tools for exploratory data analysis, we demonstrate the feasibility of a simple and effective data-driven approach for cell type assignment in scRNA-seq cell clusters.Conclusions clustifyr is a lightweight and effective cell type assignment tool developed for compatibility with various scRNA-seq analysis workflows. clustifyr is publicly available at https://github.com/rnabioco/clustifyrPBMCperipheral blood mononuclear cellscRNA-seqsingle-cell RNA sequencingSCESingleCellExperiment