Attractor Landscape Analysis Reveals a Reversion Switch in the Transition of Colorectal Tumorigenesis

Abstract A cell fate change such as tumorigenesis incurs critical transition. It remains a longstanding challenge whether the underlying mechanism can be unraveled and a molecular switch that can reverse such transition is found. Here a systems framework, REVERT, is presented with which can reconstruct the core molecular regulatory network model and a reversion switch based on single‐cell transcriptome data over the transition process is identified. The usefulness of REVERT is demonstrated by applying it to single‐cell transcriptome of patient‐derived matched organoids of colon cancer and normal colon. REVERT is a generic framework that can be applied to investigate various cell fate transition phenomena.