Visualization of three-way comparisons of omics data

Background: Density plot visualizations (also referred to as heat maps or color maps) are widely used in different fields including large-scale omics studies in biological sciences. However, the current color-codings limit the visualizations to single datasets or pairwise comparisons. Results: We propose a color-coding approach for the representation of three-way comparisons. The approach is based on the HSB (hue, saturation, brightness) color model. The three compared values are assigned specific hue values from the circular hue range (e.g. red, green, and blue). The hue value representing the three-way comparison is calculated according to the distribution of three compared values. If two of the values are identical and one is different, the resulting hue is set to the characteristic hue of the differing value. If all three compared values are different, the resulting hue is selected from a color gradient running between the hues of the two most distant values (as measured by the ab...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Richard Baran, Martin Robert, Makoto Suematsu, Tomoyoshi Soga, Masaru Tomita
• Keywords: BMCBI 2007, Hue Value, Specific Hue Values, Three-way Comparisons