VIACOT: a web server for interactive visualization and comparison of cell lineage trees

The cell lineage tree (CLT) records some or all cell division events during the development of multicellular organisms, as well as the functional characteristics of terminal cells, and is therefore commonly considered one of the most fundamental types of biological data. The combining of single-cell RNA sequencing with DNA barcoding has recently led to the rapid accumulation of CLT datasets. Unlike biological sequence data, web-based analysis and visualization tools for CLT data are currently lacking. In order to facilitate studies surrounding CLT, we built a webserver named VIACOT (Visualize Interactively And COmpare Trees). VIACOT is not only a comprehensive repository of published CLT datasets, but also a web tool that enables three preliminary analyses of preprocessed CLT datasets, including. (i) interactive visualization of CLT allowing fine-grain or coarse-grain exploration. (ii) calculations of correlations among single-cell metrics, such as gene expression levels, either using the original metrics or their phylogenetic independent contrasts. (iii) comparison among different CLTs to identify differences in cell fate. We anticipate that VIACOT will be a useful tool for exploration and biological interpretation of CLTs.