scMDCL: A Deep Collaborative Contrastive Learning Framework for Matched Single-Cell Multiomics Data Clustering

Abstract

Single-cell multiomics clustering integrates multiple omics data to analyze cellular heterogeneity and is crucial for uncovering complex biological processes and disease mechanisms. However, existing matched single-cell multiomics clustering methods often neglect the full utilization of intercellular relationships and the interactions and synergy between features from different omics, leading to suboptimal clustering performance. In this paper, we propose a deep collaborative contrastive learning framework for matched single-cell multiomics data clustering, named scMDCL. This framework fully leverages intercell relationships while enhancing feature interactions among identical cells across different omics data, thereby facilitating efficient clustering of multiomics data. Specifically, to fully utilize the topological information between cells, a graph autoencoder and a feature information enhancement module are designed for different omics, enabling the extraction and augmentation of cell features. Additionally, contrastive learning techniques are employed to strengthen the interactions among the different omics features of the same cell. Ultimately, multiomics deep collaborative clustering modules are utilized to achieve single-cell multiomics clustering. Extensive experiments conducted on nine publicly available single-cell multiomics datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed framework in integrating multiomics data for clustering tasks.