journal article·2025-11Open access

ggalign: Bridging the Grammar of Graphics and Biological Multilayered Complexity

Yun Peng, Shan Jiang, Yuxuan Song, Peng Luo, Jianfeng Li, Dehua Hu, Jian‐Guo Zhou, Guangchuang Yu, Tao Xu, Shixiang Wang

Advanced Science· Volume 12· Issue 44

Abstract

Abstract Data visualization is essential for exploring and communicating complex biological datasets. As omics data grow in scale and complexity, there is an increasing demand for visualization tools that are both flexible and extensible. We present ggalign, an R package that extends the ggplot2 ecosystem by introducing an integrative framework for composable visualization. Designed to overcome limitations of existing tools, ggalign supports modular, data‐aware layouts‐including circular, stacked, and quadrant‐based configurations‐and enables the representation of diverse data relationships, such as one‐to‐many and many‐to‐one connections. Its ability to reorder and group observations using data‐driven or domain‐specific criteria enhances the interpretability of high‐dimensional datasets. Moreover, ggalign introduces a novel linking mechanism for visualizing interconnections across heterogeneous data types, as demonstrated in genomic and microbiome case studies. Together, these features position ggalign as a versatile and reproducible solution for multi‐omics research, supporting both exploratory data analysis and publication‐ready presentation.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks · Gene expression and cancer classification · Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Urology Peking University People's hospital Beijing 100044 China

Department of Biomedical Informatics School of Life Sciences Central South University Changsha 410013 China

Department of Oncology Zhujiang Hospital Southern Medical University Guangzhou 510282 China

State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics Shanghai Institute of Hematology National Research Center for Translational Medicine Rui‐Jin Hospital School of Medicine Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai 200025 China

Department of Oncology The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University Zunyi 563006 China

Department of Bioinformatics School of Basic Medical Sciences Southern Medical University Guangzhou 510515 China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · National Key Research and Development Program of China

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