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Bio Gene Regulatory Networks Coexpression Networks Agent Skill

Build weighted gene co-expression networks to identify modules of co-regulated genes and relate them to phenotypes using WGCNA and CEMiTool. Detects hub genes and module-trait relationships from bulk or single-cell expression data. Use when finding co-expression modules, identifying hub genes, or relating gene networks to clinical or experimental variables.

2.3k tokens
context cost
SKILL.md, read when the skill is used
4
files
plus reference files
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
132
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/BioTender-max/awesome-bio-agent-skills --skill bio-gene-regulatory-networks-coexpression-networks

What comes with it

8 094 bytes besides the instruction
examples/cemitool_quick.R
examples/wgcna_analysis.R
usage-guide.md

The instruction itself

15 sections, as written by the author

Version Compatibility

Reference examples tested with: WGCNA 1.72+, CEMiTool 1.26+

Before using code patterns, verify installed versions match. If versions differ:

  • R: packageVersion("<pkg>") then ?function_name to verify parameters

If code throws ImportError, AttributeError, or TypeError, introspect the installed

package and adapt the example to match the actual API rather than retrying.

Co-expression Networks

"Find co-expression modules and hub genes from my RNA-seq data" → Build a weighted gene co-expression network, detect modules of co-regulated genes via hierarchical clustering, and correlate modules with sample traits to identify hub genes.

  • R: WGCNA::blockwiseModules() for network construction and module detection
  • R: CEMiTool::cemitool() for automated co-expression analysis

Build weighted gene co-expression networks to identify modules of co-regulated genes and relate them to sample traits.

WGCNA Workflow

Required Libraries

library(WGCNA)
options(stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
allowWGCNAThreads()

Input Preparation

# Expression matrix: genes as columns, samples as rows (WGCNA convention)
expr_data <- read.csv('normalized_counts.csv', row.names = 1)
expr_data <- t(expr_data)  # transpose if genes are rows

# Filter low-variance genes
gene_vars <- apply(expr_data, 2, var)
expr_data <- expr_data[, gene_vars > quantile(gene_vars, 0.25)]

# Check for outlier samples
sample_tree <- hclust(dist(expr_data), method = 'average')
plot(sample_tree, main = 'Sample dendrogram')

Soft-Thresholding Power Selection

powers <- c(1:20)
sft <- pickSoftThreshold(expr_data, powerVector = powers, verbose = 5)

# Plot scale-free topology fit
# R^2 > 0.85 is the default target; acceptable range is 0.8-0.9
# Higher R^2 means better scale-free fit; if no power reaches 0.85,
# use the power where R^2 plateaus (but should be >= 0.80)
par(mfrow = c(1, 2))
plot(sft$fitIndices[, 1], -sign(sft$fitIndices[, 3]) * sft$fitIndices[, 2],
     xlab = 'Soft Threshold (power)', ylab = 'Scale Free Topology R^2',
     main = 'Scale independence')
abline(h = 0.85, col = 'red')

plot(sft$fitIndices[, 1], sft$fitIndices[, 5],
     xlab = 'Soft Threshold (power)', ylab = 'Mean Connectivity',
     main = 'Mean connectivity')

soft_power <- sft$powerEstimate

Network Construction and Module Detection

net <- blockwiseModules(
    expr_data, power = soft_power,
    TOMType = 'unsigned', minModuleSize = 30,
    reassignThreshold = 0, mergeCutHeight = 0.25,
    numericLabels = TRUE, pamRespectsDendro = FALSE,
    saveTOMs = TRUE, saveTOMFileBase = 'TOM',
    verbose = 3
)

module_colors <- labels2colors(net$colors)
table(module_colors)

plotDendroAndColors(net$dendrograms[[1]], module_colors[net$blockGenes[[1]]],
                    'Module colors', dendroLabels = FALSE, hang = 0.03,
                    addGuide = TRUE, guideHang = 0.05)

Module Eigengenes and Trait Relationships

# Module eigengenes (first PC of each module)
MEs <- net$MEs
MEs <- orderMEs(MEs)

# Trait data (samples as rows, traits as columns)
traits <- read.csv('sample_traits.csv', row.names = 1)

# Correlate eigengenes with traits
module_trait_cor <- cor(MEs, traits, use = 'p')
module_trait_pval <- corPvalueStudent(module_trait_cor, nrow(expr_data))

# Heatmap of module-trait correlations
textMatrix <- paste(signif(module_trait_cor, 2), '\n(',
                    signif(module_trait_pval, 1), ')', sep = '')
dim(textMatrix) <- dim(module_trait_cor)

labeledHeatmap(Matrix = module_trait_cor,
               xLabels = colnames(traits), yLabels = names(MEs),
               ySymbols = names(MEs), colorLabels = FALSE,
               colors = blueWhiteRed(50), textMatrix = textMatrix,
               setStdMargins = FALSE, cex.text = 0.5,
               main = 'Module-trait relationships')

Hub Gene Identification

Goal: Identify the most influential genes within a co-expression module by combining module membership with trait association.

Approach: Correlate each gene's expression with its module eigengene (module membership) and with the trait of interest (gene significance), then select genes exceeding both thresholds; additionally rank by intramodular connectivity (kWithin).

# Gene module membership (correlation with module eigengene)
module_of_interest <- 'turquoise'
module_genes <- colnames(expr_data)[module_colors == module_of_interest]

gene_module_membership <- cor(expr_data, MEs, use = 'p')
gene_trait_significance <- cor(expr_data, traits$phenotype, use = 'p')

# Hub genes: high module membership AND high trait significance
hub_threshold_mm <- 0.8   # module membership cutoff
hub_threshold_gs <- 0.2   # gene significance cutoff
hub_genes <- module_genes[
    abs(gene_module_membership[module_genes, paste0('ME', module_of_interest)]) > hub_threshold_mm &
    abs(gene_trait_significance[module_genes, 1]) > hub_threshold_gs
]

# Intramodular connectivity (kWithin)
connectivity <- intramodularConnectivity(
    adjacency(expr_data, power = soft_power),
    module_colors
)
top_hubs <- connectivity[module_genes, ] %>%
    dplyr::arrange(desc(kWithin)) %>%
    head(20)

Export for Cytoscape

Goal: Export a co-expression module as an edge/node list for interactive network visualization in Cytoscape.

Approach: Recompute the TOM (Topological Overlap Matrix) for the module of interest, threshold weak connections, and export as Cytoscape-compatible edge and node files.

# Export top connections for network visualization
TOM <- TOMsimilarityFromExpr(expr_data, power = soft_power)
dimnames(TOM) <- list(colnames(expr_data), colnames(expr_data))

module_genes <- colnames(expr_data)[module_colors == module_of_interest]
module_TOM <- TOM[module_genes, module_genes]

cyt <- exportNetworkToCytoscape(module_TOM, edgeFile = 'edges.txt',
                                 nodeFile = 'nodes.txt',
                                 weighted = TRUE, threshold = 0.02)

CEMiTool (Automated Analysis)

library(CEMiTool)

# CEMiTool automates soft-threshold selection and module detection
expr_matrix <- read.csv('normalized_counts.csv', row.names = 1)
sample_annot <- read.csv('sample_annotation.csv')

cem <- cemitool(expr_matrix, sample_annot, filter = TRUE, plot = TRUE, verbose = TRUE)

# Results
nmodules(cem)
module_genes <- module_genes(cem)
generate_report(cem, directory = 'cemitool_report')

# Enrichment with gene sets (optional)
gene_sets <- read_gmt('pathways.gmt')
cem <- mod_ora(cem, gene_sets)
cem <- plot_ora(cem)

hdWGCNA (Single-Cell)

library(hdWGCNA)
library(Seurat)

seurat_obj <- readRDS('clustered.rds')
seurat_obj <- SetupForWGCNA(seurat_obj, gene_select = 'fraction',
                             fraction = 0.05, wgcna_name = 'hdwgcna')

# Metacells to reduce sparsity (groups of 25-50 cells)
seurat_obj <- MetacellsByGroups(seurat_obj, group.by = c('seurat_clusters'),
                                 k = 25, max_shared = 10, ident.group = 'seurat_clusters')
seurat_obj <- NormalizeMetacells(seurat_obj)

# Standard WGCNA on metacells
seurat_obj <- SetDatExpr(seurat_obj, group.by = 'seurat_clusters', group_name = 'all')
seurat_obj <- TestSoftPowers(seurat_obj)
seurat_obj <- ConstructNetwork(seurat_obj, soft_power = 6, setDatExpr = FALSE)
seurat_obj <- ModuleEigengenes(seurat_obj)
seurat_obj <- ModuleConnectivity(seurat_obj)

# Visualize on UMAP
seurat_obj <- RunModuleUMAP(seurat_obj, n_hubs = 10, n_neighbors = 15, min_dist = 0.1)
ModuleFeaturePlot(seurat_obj, features = 'hMEs')

PyWGCNA (Python Alternative)

import PyWGCNA

pywgcna = PyWGCNA.WGCNA(name='analysis', species='homo sapiens',
                         geneExp='normalized_counts.csv', outputPath='pywgcna_output/')
pywgcna.preprocess()
pywgcna.findModules()
pywgcna.updateSampleInfo(path='sample_traits.csv')
pywgcna.analyseWGCNA()

Statistical Considerations

| Consideration | Guideline | Rationale |

|---------------|-----------|-----------|

| Minimum samples | 20 recommended, 15 absolute floor | Correlation stability; below 15, module detection is unreliable |

| Scale-free R^2 | > 0.85 default (0.80-0.90 acceptable) | Ensures biological network topology |

| Min module size | 30 genes | Smaller modules are often noise |

| Merge cut height | 0.25 | Merges modules with >75% eigengene correlation |

| Gene filtering | Top 5000-10000 most variable | Reduces noise, speeds computation |

  • scenic-regulons - TF-centric regulon inference from scRNA-seq
  • differential-networks - Compare networks between conditions
  • differential-expression/deseq2-basics - DE analysis to prioritize network genes
  • differential-expression/batch-correction - Remove batch effects before network construction
  • temporal-genomics/temporal-grn - Dynamic GRN inference from bulk time-series data

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