Univarscatter

Draw an univariate scatter plot out of a nx2 table with a categorical/string and a numerical variable, or out of a numerical array, with groups/categories corresponding to the columns of the numerical array. The function returns the (x,y) coordinates of the dots, so you can use them for custom plotting. If you use this function in a public webpage or publication, I encourage you to share the reference with me so that I include it in the publications section.

This kind of graph is very popular in biochemistry/biology papers.

It allows for a lot customisation (see examples)

Basic usage

```matlab

% Generate 3 normal COLUMN VECTORS of different lengths smallset=normrnd(0,3,[10,1]); averageset=normrnd(0,3,[50,1]); bigset=normrnd(0,3,[150,1]);

%Concatenate them, and fill the empty ones with nans, keep in mind that you %can do this much faster with the function padcat (see extra functions)

DataArray=nan(size(bigset,1),3); DataArray(1:length(smallset),1)=smallset; DataArray(1:length(averageset),2)=averageset; DataArray(1:length(bigset),3)=bigset;

figure UnivarScatter(DataArray,'Label',{'Small','Average','Big'}); ```

Customizing the graph

Many custom options are available as Name,Value pairs. For optimal visualization of your data I recommend to play with RangeCut, and also with pbaspect of the plot, it really changes the appearance.

Extra functions

You need the following functions for this function to work:

• CatTable2Array included here.

Also, a very simple function to assign colors is provided, ColorCoder, you can see several examples in the script UnivarScatterExamples.m.

A useful function to create the input of the function from columns of different lengths is the function padcat (link)

All your feedback is welcome to improve this function

Publications using Univarscatter

Here are some publications that use UnivarScatter. If you know of more please let me know!

Bürgi, J., Abrami, L., Castanon, I., Abriata, L. A., Kunz, B., Yan, S. E., … van der Goot, F. G. (2020). Ligand Binding to the Collagen VI Receptor Triggers a Talin-to-RhoA Switch that Regulates Receptor Endocytosis. Developmental Cell, 53(4), 418-430.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2020.04.015

Bailles, A., Collinet, C., Philippe, J. M., Lenne, P. F., Munro, E., & Lecuit, T. (2019). Genetic induction and mechanochemical propagation of a morphogenetic wave. Nature, 572(7770), 467–473. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1492-9

Rozenfeld, E., Lerner, H., & Parnas, M. (2019). Muscarinic Modulation of Antennal Lobe GABAergic Local Neurons Shapes Odor Coding and Behavior. Cell Reports, 29(10), 3253–3265.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.10.125

Thomas, C. I., Keine, C., Okayama, S., Satterfield, R., Musgrove, M., Guerrero-Given, D., … Young, S. M. (2019). Presynaptic mitochondria volume and abundance increase during development of a high-fidelity synapse. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(41), 7994–8012. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0363-19.2019

Taylor, P. N., Sinha, N., Wang, Y., Vos, S. B., de Tisi, J., Miserocchi, A., … Duncan, J. S. (2018). The impact of epilepsy surgery on the structural connectome and its relation to outcome. NeuroImage: Clinical, 18(January), 202–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2018.01.028

Sinha, N., Wang, Y., Dauwels, J., Kaiser, M., Thesen, T., Forsyth, R., & Taylor, P. N. (2019). Computer modelling of connectivity change suggests epileptogenesis mechanisms in idiopathic generalised epilepsy. NeuroImage: Clinical, 21(December 2018), 101655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101655

Thomas Hannich, J., Mellal, D., Feng, S., Zumbuehl, A., & Riezman, H. (2017). Structure and conserved function of iso-branched sphingoid bases from the nematode: Caenorhabditis elegans. Chemical Science, 8(5), 3676–3686. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sc04831e

Chromosome segregation is driven by joint microtubule sliding action of kinesins KIF4A and EG5 Kruno Vukušić, Renata Buđa, Ivana Ponjavić, Patrik Risteski, Iva M. Tolić bioRxiv 863381; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/863381

Coevolution of structural variation and optimization in sound systems of human language Meng-Han Zhang, Tao Gong bioRxiv 346965; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/346965

Wang, Y., Sinha, N., Schroeder, G. M., Ramaraju, S., McEvoy, A. W., Miserocchi, A., … Taylor, P. N. (2020). Interictal intracranial electroencephalography for predicting surgical success: The importance of space and time. Epilepsia, 61(7), 1417–1426. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.16580

Manenica, M., Koprivec, I., Štimac, V., Simunić, J., & Tolić, I. M. (2020). Augmin regulates kinetochore tension and spatial arrangement of spindle microtubules by nucleating bridging fibers. BioRxiv, 2020.09.10.291740. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.10.291740

Taylor, P. N., Moreira da Silva, N., Blamire, A., Wang, Y., & Forsyth, R. (2020). Early deviation from normal structural connectivity: A novel intrinsic severity score for mild TBI. Neurology, 94(10), e1021–e1026. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000008902

Israel, S., Rozenfeld, E., Weber, D., Huetteroth, W., & Parnas, M. (2020). Two Parallel Pathways Mediate Olfactory-Driven Backward Locomotion. BioRxiv, 2020.11.23.393819. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.23.393819

Trupinić, M., Ponjavić, I., Kokanović, B., Barišić, I., Šegvić, S., Ivec, A., & Tolić, I. M. (2020). Twist of the mitotic spindle culminates at anaphase onset and depends on microtubule-associated proteins along with external forces. BioRxiv, 2020.12.27.424486. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.27.424486

Popescu, T., Widdess, R., & Rohrmeier, M. (2020, December 20). Western listeners detect boundary hierarchy in Indian music: a segmentation study (Popescu et al. 2020, Scientific Reports). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/q9f7e

Goodarzi, S., Prunet, A., Rossetti, F., Tillement, O., Porcel, E., & Lacombe, S. (2021). Quantifying nanotherapeutics penetration using hydrogel based microsystem as a new 3D in-vitro platform, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.17.427020

Examples

You can find a handful of examples in the file UnivarScatterExamples.m . In the folder examples there are some other examples shared by users of UnivarScatter, see examples/examples.md.

Similar functions

In Mathworks I came across a function that does something very similar to this, plotSpread(link)