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PASTRI: Resolving Stage-Specific Cell-State Dynamics from Annotated Cell Lineage Trees

Yang, W.; Li, Z.; Yu, X.; Wu, P.; Zhang, X.; Ren, C.; Liu, K.; Chen, J.; Chen, F.; He, X.; Zhang, J.; Chen, X.; Yang, J.

2026-08-20 bioinformatics
10.64898/2026.08.16.745065 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Cellular transitions between phenotypic states are fundamental to development and disease, yet quantitative analysis of their dynamics remains challenging. Here we present PASTRI (Phylogenetic Adjacency-based State Transition Rate Inference), a computational framework that infers transition rates from cell lineages/phylogenies annotated with terminal phenotypic states, such as single-cell transcriptomes. We validate PASTRI using simulated lineages and the Caenorhabditis elegans embryonic lineage. Importantly, by leveraging cell pairs at varying phylogenetic distances, PASTRI accurately resolves stage-specific transition rates, circumventing the issue of developmental changes in dynamics. Applied to three cell phylogeny datasets from our lineage-tracing experiments spanning diverse developmental/disease models and tracing systems, PASTRI uncovers rate-limiting steps in the activation of hepatic stellate cells and the differentiation of primordial lung progenitors, as well as attractor states that support cancer cell proliferation. PASTRI thus opens up a venue for dissecting cell state transition dynamics from annotated cell lineage/phylogeny.

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