Single-cell gene expression file contents

Single-cell or single-nuclei gene expression data (unfiltered, filtered, or processed) is provided in two formats:

These objects contain the expression data, cell and gene metrics, associated metadata, and, in the case of multimodal data like ADTs from CITE-seq experiments, data from additional cell-based assays. For SingleCellExperiment objects, the ADT data will be included as an alternative experiment in the same object containing the primary RNA data. For AnnData objects, the ADT data will be available as a separate object stored in a separate file. Note that multiplexed sample libraries are only available as SingleCellExperiment objects, and are not currently available as AnnData objects.

Below we present some details about the specific contents of the objects we provide.

Components of a SingleCellExperiment object

Before getting started, we highly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the general SingleCellExperiment object structure and functions available as part of the SingleCellExperiment package from Bioconductor.

To begin, you will need to load the SingleCellExperiment package and read the RDS file:

library(SingleCellExperiment)
sce <- readRDS("SCPCL000000_processed.rds")

SingleCellExperiment expression counts

The counts and logcounts assays of the SingleCellExperiment object for single-cell and single-nuclei experiments contain the main RNA-seq expression data. The counts assay contains the primary raw counts represented as integers, and the logcounts assay contains normalized counts as described in the data post-processing section.

The counts assay includes reads aligned to both spliced and unspliced cDNA (see the section on Post Alevin-fry processing). Each assay is stored as a sparse matrix, where each column represents a cell or droplet, and each row represents a gene. The counts and logcounts assays can be accessed with the following R code:

counts(sce) # counts matrix
logcounts(sce) # logcounts matrix

Column names are cell barcode sequences, and row names are Ensembl gene IDs. These names can be accessed with the following R code:

colnames(sce) # matrix column names
rownames(sce) # matrix row names

There is also a spliced assay which contains the counts matrix with only reads from spliced cDNA.

SingleCellExperiment cell metrics

Cell metrics calculated from the RNA-seq expression data are stored as a DataFrame in the colData slot, with the cell barcodes as the names of the rows.

colData(sce) # cell metrics

The following per-cell data columns are included for each cell, calculated using the scuttle::addPerCellQCMetrics() function.

Column name

Contents

sum

UMI count for RNA-seq data

detected

Number of genes detected (gene count > 0 )

subsets_mito_sum

UMI count of mitochondrial genes

subsets_mito_detected

Number of mitochondrial genes detected

subsets_mito_percent

Percent of all UMI counts assigned to mitochondrial genes

total

Total UMI count for RNA-seq data and any alternative experiments (i.e., ADT data from CITE-seq)

The following additional per-cell data columns are included in both the filtered and processed objects. These columns include metrics calculated by miQC, a package that jointly models proportion of reads belonging to mitochondrial genes and number of unique genes detected to predict low-quality cells. We also include the filtering results used for the creation of the processed objects. See the description of the processed gene expression data for more information on filtering performed to create the processed objects.

Column name

Contents

prob_compromised

Probability that a cell is compromised (i.e., dead or damaged), as calculated by miQC

miQC_pass

Indicates whether the cell passed the default miQC filtering. TRUE is assigned to cells with a low probability of being compromised (prob_compromised < 0.75) or sufficiently low mitochondrial content

scpca_filter

Labels cells as either Keep or Remove based on filtering criteria (prob_compromised < 0.75 and number of unique genes detected > 200)

adt_scpca_filter

If CITE-seq was performed, labels cells as either Keep or Remove based on ADT filtering criteria (discard = TRUE as determined by DropletUtils::CleanTagCounts())

submitter_celltype_annotation

If available, cell type annotations obtained from the group that submitted the original data. Cells that the submitter did not annotate are labeled as "Submitter-excluded"

The processed object has one additional colData column reflecting cluster assignments. Further, if cell type annotation was performed, there will be additional columns representing annotation results in the processed object’s colData, as described in the cell type annotation processing section.

Column name

Contents

cluster

Cell cluster identity identified by graph-based clustering

singler_celltype_annotation

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the annotated cell type. Cells labeled as NA are those which SingleR could not confidently annotate

singler_celltype_ontology

If cell typing with SingleR was performed with ontology labels, the annotated cell type’s ontology ID. Cells labeled as NA are those which SingleR could not confidently annotate

cellassign_celltype_annotation

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed, the annotated cell type. Cells labeled as "other" are those which CellAssign could not confidently annotate. If CellAssign was unable to complete successfully, cells will be labeled as "Not run"

cellassign_max_prediction

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, the annotation’s prediction score (probability)

SingleCellExperiment gene information and metrics

Gene information and metrics calculated from the RNA-seq expression data are stored as a DataFrame in the rowData slot, with the Ensembl ID as the names of the rows.

rowData(sce) # gene metrics

The following columns are included for all genes. Metrics were calculated using the scuttle::addPerFeatureQCMetrics function.

Column name

Contents

gene_symbol

HUGO gene symbol, if defined

gene_ids

Ensembl gene ID

mean

Mean count across all cells/droplets

detected

Percent of cells in which the gene was detected (gene count > 0 )

SingleCellExperiment experiment metadata

Metadata associated with data processing is included in the metadata slot as a list.

metadata(sce) # experiment metadata

Item name

Contents

salmon_version

Version of salmon used for initial mapping

reference_index

Transcriptome reference file used for mapping

total_reads

Total number of reads processed by salmon

mapped_reads

Number of reads successfully mapped

mapping_tool

Pipeline used for mapping and quantification (alevin-fry for all current data in ScPCA)

alevinfry_version

Version of alevin-fry used for mapping and quantification

af_permit_type

alevin-fry generate-permit-list method used for filtering cell barcodes

af_resolution

alevin-fry quant resolution mode used

usa_mode

Boolean indicating whether quantification was done using alevin-fry USA mode

af_num_cells

Number of cells reported by alevin-fry

tech_version

A string indicating the technology and version used for the single-cell library, such as 10Xv2, 10Xv3, or 10Xv3.1

assay_ontology_term_id

A string indicating the Experimental Factor Ontology term ID associated with the tech_version

seq_unit

cell for single-cell samples or nucleus for single-nuclei samples

transcript_type

Types of counts matrices included in the object. total indicates both spliced and unspliced reads are included in the final count, spliced indicates only spliced reads are included in the final count

sample_metadata

Data frame containing metadata for each sample included in the library (see the Sample metadata section below)

sample_type

A string indicating the type of sample, with one of the following values: "patient-derived xenograft", "cell line", or "patient tissue". If the library is multiplexed, this will be a named vector giving the sample type for each sample ID in the library. A value of "Not provided" indicates that this information is not available

miQC_model

The model object that miQC fit to the data and was used to calculate prob_compromised. Only present for filtered objects

filtering_method

The method used for cell filtering. One of emptyDrops, emptyDropsCellRanger, or UMI cutoff. Only present for filtered and processed objects

umi_cutoff

The minimum UMI count per cell used as a threshold for removing empty droplets. Only present for filtered objects where the filtering_method is UMI cutoff

prob_compromised_cutoff

The minimum cutoff for the probability of a cell being compromised, as calculated by miQC. Only present for filtered and processed objects

scpca_filter_method

Method used by the Data Lab to filter low quality cells prior to normalization. Either miQC or Minimum_gene_cutoff

adt_scpca_filter_method

If CITE-seq was performed, the method used by the Data Lab to identify cells to be filtered prior to normalization, based on ADT counts. Either cleanTagCounts with isotype controls or cleanTagCounts without isotype controls. If filtering failed (i.e. DropletUtils::cleanTagCounts() could not reliably determine which cells to filter), the value will be No filter

min_gene_cutoff

The minimum cutoff for the number of unique genes detected per cell. Only present for filtered and processed objects

normalization

The method used for normalization of raw RNA counts. Either deconvolution, described in Lun, Bach, and Marioni (2016), or log-normalization. Only present for processed objects

adt_normalization

If CITE-seq was performed, the method used for normalization of raw ADT counts. Either median-based or log-normalization, as explained in the processed ADT data section. Only present for processed objects

highly_variable_genes

A vector of highly variable genes used for dimensionality reduction, determined using scran::modelGeneVar and scran::getTopHVGs. Only present for processed objects

cluster_algorithm

The algorithm used to perform graph-based clustering of cells. Only present for processed objects

cluster_weighting

The weighting approach used during graph-based clustering. Only present for processed objects

cluster_nn

The nearest neighbor parameter value used for the graph-based clustering. Only present for processed objects

celltype_methods

If cell type annotation was performed, a vector of the methods used for annotation. May include "submitter", "singler" and/or "cellassign". If submitter cell-type annotations are available, this metadata item will be present in all objects. Otherwise, this item will only be in processed objects

singler_results

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the full result object returned by SingleR annotation. Only present for processed objects

singler_reference

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the name of the reference dataset used for annotation. Only present for processed objects

singler_reference_label

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the name of the label in the reference dataset used for annotation. Only present for processed objects

singler_reference_source

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the source of the reference dataset (default is celldex). Only present for processed objects

singler_reference_version

If cell typing with SingleR was performed, the version of celldex used to create the reference dataset source, with periods replaced as dashes (-). Only present for processed objects

cellassign_predictions

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, the full matrix of predictions across cells and cell types. Only present for processed objects

cellassign_reference

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, the reference name as established by the Data Lab used for cell type annotation. Only present for processed objects

cellassign_reference_organs

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, a comma-separated list of organs and/or tissue compartments from which marker genes were obtained to create the reference. Only present for processed objects

cellassign_reference_source

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, the source of the reference dataset (default is PanglaoDB). Only present for processed objects

cellassign_reference_version

If cell typing with CellAssign was performed and completed successfully, the version of the reference dataset source. For references obtained from PanglaoDB, the version scheme is a date in ISO8601 format. Only present for processed objects

SingleCellExperiment sample metadata

Relevant sample metadata is available as a data frame stored in the metadata(sce)$sample_metadata slot of the SingleCellExperiment object. Each row in the data frame will correspond to a sample present in the library. The following columns are included in the sample metadata data frame for all libraries.

Column name

Contents

sample_id

Sample ID in the form SCPCS000000

library_id

Library ID in the form SCPCL000000

particpant_id

Unique ID corresponding to the donor from which the sample was obtained

submitter_id

Original sample identifier from submitter

submitter

Submitter name/ID

age

Age at time sample was obtained

sex

Sex of patient that the sample was obtained from

diagnosis

Tumor type

subdiagnosis

Subcategory of diagnosis or mutation status (if applicable)

tissue_location

Where in the body the tumor sample was located

disease_timing

At what stage of disease the sample was obtained, either diagnosis or recurrence

organism

The organism the sample was obtained from (e.g., Homo_sapiens)

is_xenograft

Whether the sample is a patient-derived xenograft

is_cell_line

Whether the sample was derived from a cell line

development_stage_ontology_term_id

HsapDv ontology term indicating developmental stage. If unavailable, unknown is used

sex_ontology_term_id

PATO term referring to the sex of the sample. If unavailable, unknown is used

organism_ontology_id

NCBI taxonomy term for organism, e.g. NCBITaxon:9606

self_reported_ethnicity_ontology_term_id

For Homo sapiens, a Hancestro term. multiethnic indicates more than one ethnicity is reported. unknown indicates unavailable ethnicity and NA is used for all other organisms

disease_ontology_term_id

MONDO term indicating disease type. PATO:0000461 indicates normal or healthy tissue. If unavailable, NA is used

tissue_ontology_term_id

UBERON term indicating tissue of origin. If unavailable, NA is used

For some libraries, the sample metadata may also include additional metadata specific to the disease type and experimental design of the project. Examples of this include treatment or outcome.

SingleCellExperiment dimensionality reduction results

In the RDS file containing the processed SingleCellExperiment object only (_processed.rds), the reducedDim slot of the object will be occupied with both principal component analysis (PCA) and UMAP results. For all other objects, the reducedDim slot will be empty as no dimensionality reduction was performed.

PCA results were calculated using scater::runPCA(), using only highly variable genes. The list of highly variable genes used was selected using scran::modelGeneVar and scran::getTopHVGs, and are stored in the SingleCellExperiment object in metadata(sce)$highly_variable_genes. The following command can be used to access the PCA results:

reducedDim(sce, "PCA")

UMAP results were calculated using scater::runUMAP(), with the PCA results as input rather than the full gene expression matrix. The following command can be used to access the UMAP results:

reducedDim(sce, "UMAP")

Additional SingleCellExperiment components for CITE-seq libraries (with ADT tags)

ADT data from CITE-seq experiments, when present, is included within the SingleCellExperiment as an “Alternative Experiment” named "adt" , which can be accessed with the following command:

altExp(sce, "adt") # adt experiment

Within this, the main expression matrix is again found in the counts assay and the normalized expression matrix is found in the logcounts assay. For each assay, each column corresponds to a cell or droplet (in the same order as the parent SingleCellExperiment) and each row corresponds to an antibody derived tag (ADT). Column names are again cell barcode sequences and row names are the antibody targets for each ADT.

Only cells which are denoted as “Keep” in the colData(sce)$adt_scpca_filter column (as described above) have normalized expression values in the logcounts assay, and all other cells are assigned NA values. However, as described in the processed ADT data section, normalization may fail under certain circumstances, in which case there will be no logcounts normalized expression matrix present in the alternative experiment.

The following additional per-cell data columns for the ADT data can be found in the main colData data frame (accessed with colData(sce) as above).

Column name

Contents

altexps_adt_sum

UMI count for CITE-seq ADTs

altexps_adt_detected

Number of ADTs detected per cell (ADT count > 0 )

altexps_adt_percent

Percent of total UMI count from ADT reads

In addition, the following QC statistics from DropletUtils::cleanTagCounts() can be found in the colData of the "adt" alternative experiment, accessed with colData(altExp(sce, "adt")).

Column name

Contents

zero.ambient

Indicates whether the cell has zero ambient contamination

sum.controls

The sum of counts for all control features. Only present if negative/isotype control ADTs are present

high.controls

Indicates whether the cell has unusually high total control counts. Only present if negative/isotype control ADTs are present

ambient.scale

The relative amount of ambient contamination. Only present if negative control ADTs are not present

high.ambient

Indicates whether the cell has unusually high contamination. Only present if negative/isotype control ADTs are not present

discard

Indicates whether the cell should be discarded based on ADT QC statistics. The TRUE and FALSE values in this column correspond, respectively, to values "Discard" and "Keep" in the colData(sce)$adt_scpca_filter column

Metrics for each of the ADTs assayed can be found as a DataFrame stored as rowData within the alternative experiment:

rowData(altExp(sce, "adt")) # adt metrics

This data frame contains the following columns with statistics for each ADT:

Column name

Contents

adt_id

Name or ID of the ADT

mean

Mean ADT count across all cells/droplets

detected

Percent of cells in which the ADT was detected (ADT count > 0 )

target_type

Whether each ADT is a target (target), negative/isotype control (neg_control), or positive control (pos_control). If this information was not provided, all ADTs will have been considered targets and will be labeled as target

Finally, additional metadata for ADT processing can be found in the metadata slot of the alternative experiment. This metadata slot has the same contents as the parent experiment metadata, along with one additional field, ambient_profile, which holds a list of the ambient concentrations of each ADT.

metadata(altExp(sce, "adt")) # adt metadata

Additional SingleCellExperiment components for multiplexed libraries

Multiplexed libraries will contain a number of additional components and fields.

Hashtag oligo (HTO) quantification for each cell is included within the SingleCellExperiment as an “Alternative Experiment” named "cellhash" , which can be accessed with the following command:

altExp(sce, "cellhash") # hto experiment

Within this, the main data matrix is again found in the counts assay, with each column corresponding to a cell or droplet (in the same order as the parent SingleCellExperiment) and each row corresponding to a hashtag oligo (HTO). Column names are again cell barcode sequences and row names the HTO IDs for all assayed HTOs.

The following additional per-cell data columns for the cellhash data can be found in the main colData data frame (accessed with colData(sce) as above).

Column name

Contents

altexps_cellhash_sum

UMI count for cellhash HTOs

altexps_cellhash_detected

Number of HTOs detected per cell (HTO count > 0 )

altexps_cellhash_percent

Percent of total UMI count from HTO reads

Metrics for each of the HTOs assayed can be found as a DataFrame stored as rowData within the alternative experiment:

rowData(altExp(sce, "cellhash")) # hto metrics

This data frame contains the following columns with statistics for each HTO:

Column name

Contents

mean

Mean HTO count across all cells/droplets

detected

Percent of cells in which the HTO was detected (HTO count > 0 )

sample_id

Sample ID for this library that corresponds to the HTO. Only present in filtered and processed objects

Note that in the unfiltered SingleCellExperiment objects, this may include hashtag oligos that do not correspond to any included sample, but were part of the reference set used for mapping.

Demultiplexing results

Demultiplexing results are included only in the filtered and processed objects. A list of the demultiplexing methods applied for these objects can be found in metadata(sce)$demux_methods and are described in the multiplex data processing section.

Demultiplexing analysis adds the following additional fields to the colData(sce) data frame:

Column name

Contents

hashedDrops_sampleid

Most likely sample as called by DropletUtils::hashedDrops

HTODemux_sampleid

Most likely sample as called by Seurat::HTODemux

vireo_sampleid

Most likely sample as called by vireo (genetic demultiplexing)

Additional demultiplexing statistics

Each demultiplexing method generates additional statistics specific to the method that you may wish to access, including probabilities, alternative calls, and potential doublet information.

For methods that rely on the HTO data, these statistics are found in the colData(altExp(sce, "cellhash")) data frame; DropletUtils::hashedDrops() statistics have the prefix hashedDrops_ and Seurat::HTODemux() statistics have the prefix HTODemux.

Genetic demultiplexing statistics are found in the main colData(sce) data frame, with the prefix vireo_.

Components of an AnnData object

Before getting started, we highly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the general AnnData object structure and functions available as part of the AnnData package. For the most part, the AnnData objects that we provide are formatted to match the expected data format for CELLxGENE following schema version 3.0.0.

To begin, you will need to load the AnnData package and read the H5AD file:

import anndata
adata_object = anndata.read_h5ad("SCPCL000000_processed_rna.h5ad")

AnnData expression counts

The data matrix, X, of the AnnData object for single-cell and single-nuclei experiments contains the primary RNA-seq expression data as integer counts in both the unfiltered (_unfiltered_rna.h5ad) and filtered (_filtered_rna.h5ad) objects. The data is stored as a sparse matrix, where each column represents a cell or droplet, and each row represents a gene. The X matrix can be accessed with the following python code:

adata_object.X # raw count matrix

Column names are cell barcode sequences, and row names are Ensembl gene IDs. These names can be accessed as with the following python code:

adata_object.obs_names # matrix column names
adata_object.var_names # matrix row names

In processed objects only (_processed_rna.h5ad), the data matrix X contains the normalized data, while the primary data can be found in raw.X. The counts in the processed object can be accessed with the following python code:

adata_object.raw.X # raw count matrix
adata_object.X # normalized count matrix

AnnData cell metrics

Cell metrics calculated from the RNA-seq expression data are stored as a pandas.DataFrame in the .obs slot, with the cell barcodes as the names of the rows.

adata_object.obs # cell metrics

All of the per-cell data columns included in the colData of the SingleCellExperiment objects are present in the .obs slot of the AnnData object. To see a full description of the included columns, see the section on cell metrics in Components of a SingleCellExperiment object.

The AnnData object also includes the following additional cell-level metadata columns:

Column name

Contents

sample_id

Sample ID in the form SCPCS000000

library_id

Library ID in the form SCPCL000000

scpca_project_id

Project ID in the form SCPCP000000

participant_id

Unique ID corresponding to the donor from which the sample was obtained

submitter_id

Original sample identifier from submitter

submitter

Submitter name/ID

age

Age at time sample was obtained

sex

Sex of patient that the sample was obtained from

diagnosis

Tumor type

subdiagnosis

Subcategory of diagnosis or mutation status (if applicable)

tissue_location

Where in the body the tumor sample was located

disease_timing

At what stage of disease the sample was obtained, either diagnosis or recurrence

organism

The organism the sample was obtained from (e.g., Homo_sapiens)

is_xenograft

Whether the sample is a patient-derived xenograft

is_cell_line

Whether the sample was derived from a cell line

development_stage_ontology_term_id

HsapDv ontology term indicating developmental stage. If unavailable, unknown is used

sex_ontology_term_id

PATO term referring to the sex of the sample. If unavailable, unknown is used

organism_ontology_id

NCBI taxonomy term for organism, e.g. NCBITaxon:9606

self_reported_ethnicity_ontology_term_id

For Homo sapiens, a HANCESTRO term. multiethnic indicates more than one ethnicity is reported. unknown indicates unavailable ethnicity, and NA is used for all other organisms

disease_ontology_term_id

Mondo term indicating disease type. PATO:0000461 indicates normal or healthy tissue. If unavailable, NA is used

tissue_ontology_term_id

Uberon term indicating tissue of origin. If unavailable, NA is used

assay_ontology_term_id

A string indicating the Experimental Factor Ontology term id associated with the technology and version used for the single-cell library, such as 10Xv2, 10Xv3, or 10Xv3.1

suspension_type

cell for single-cell samples or nucleus for single-nuclei samples

is_primary_data

Set to FALSE for all libraries to reflect that all libraries were obtained from external investigators. Required by CELLxGENE

AnnData gene information and metrics

Gene information and metrics calculated from the RNA-seq expression data are stored as a pandas.DataFrame in the .var slot, with the Ensembl ID as the names of the rows.

adata_object.var # gene metrics

All of the per-gene data columns included in the rowData of the SingleCellExperiment objects are present in the .var slot of the AnnData object. To see a full description of the included columns, see the section on gene metrics in Components of a SingleCellExperiment object.

The AnnData object also includes the following additional gene-level metadata column:

Column name

Contents

is_feature_filtered

Boolean indicating if the gene or feature is filtered out in the normalized matrix but is present in the raw matrix

AnnData experiment metadata

Metadata associated with data processing is included in the .uns slot as a list.

adata_object.uns # experiment metadata

All of the object metadata included in SingleCellExperiment objects are present in the .uns slot of the AnnData object. To see a full description of the included columns, see the section on experiment metadata in Components of a SingleCellExperiment object. The only exception is that the AnnData object does not contain the sample_metadata item in the .uns slot. Instead, the contents of the sample_metadata data frame are stored in the cell-level metadata (.obs).

The AnnData object also includes the following additional items in the .uns slot:

Item name

Contents

schema_version

CZI schema version used for AnnData formatting

AnnData dimensionality reduction results

The H5AD file containing the processed AnnData object (_processed_rna.h5ad) contains a slot .obsm with both principal component analysis (X_PCA) and UMAP (X_UMAP) results. For all other H5AD files, the .obsm slot will be empty as no dimensionality reduction was performed.

For information on how PCA and UMAP results were calculated see the section on processed gene expression data.

The following command can be used to access the PCA and UMAP results:

adata_object.obsm["X_PCA"] # pca results
adata_object.obsm["X_UMAP"] # umap results

Additional AnnData components for CITE-seq libraries (with ADT tags)

ADT data from CITE-seq experiments, when present, is available as a separate AnnData object (H5AD file). All files containing ADT data will contain the _adt.h5ad suffix.

The data matrix, X, of the AnnData objects contain the primary ADT expression data as integer counts in both the unfiltered (_unfiltered_adt.h5ad) and filtered (_filtered_adt.h5ad) objects. Each column corresponds to a cell or droplet (in the same order as the main AnnData object), and each row corresponds to an antibody derived tag (ADT). Column names are again cell barcode sequences and row names are the antibody targets for each ADT.

As with the RNA AnnData objects, in processed objects only (_processed_adt.h5ad), the data matrix X contains the normalized ADT counts and the primary data can be found in raw.X. Only cells which are denoted as "Keep" in the adata_obj.obs["adt_scpca_filter"] column (as described above) have normalized expression values in the X matrix, and all other cells are assigned NA values. Note that this filtering information is also available in the discard column of the object’s .obs slot. However, as described in the processed ADT data section, normalization may fail under certain circumstances. In such cases the AnnData object will not contain a normalized expression matrix, but the primary data will still be stored in X.

All of the per-cell data columns included in the colData of the "adt" alternative experiment in SingleCellExperiment objects are present in the .obs slot of the CITE-seq AnnData object. To see a full description of the included columns, see the section on additional SingleCellExperiment components for CITE-seq libraries.

In addition, all of the per-ADT data columns included in the rowData of the "adt" alternative experiment in SingleCellExperiment merged objects are present in the .var slot of the CITE-seq AnnData object. To see a full description of the included columns, see the section on additional SingleCellExperiment components for CITE-seq libraries.

Finally, additional metadata for ADT processing can be found in the .uns slot of the AnnData object. This metadata slot has the same contents as the RNA experiment metadata, along with one additional field, ambient_profile, which holds a list of the ambient concentrations of each ADT.