Fig. 3

Biological function identification in each spatial cell type and the spatial gene characteristics of the medullary region. a Left, heatmap displaying the differentially expressed genes that were cell type specific. Right, the enriched biological processes of each ST cell type and the enrichment of the corresponding genes. The histogram on the bottom shows the number of ST spots identified in each spatial cluster; b Identification of high variable genes in the medullary region. ST spots were extracted from the medulla and the remaining regions (cortex and pelvis), respectively, and the mean UMI counts of each gene were calculated. The red circles represent the differential UMI counts of the genes related to mitochondrial electron transport in the medulla, compared with the remaining regions; c Schematic diagram shows the process of NADH respiratory chain electron transport and its regulatory genes based on gene ontology analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis showing the significant changes in oxidative stress (d) and glycolysis pathway (e) in the medullary region. P < 10^− 2 and enrichment score > 0.5 denote high enrichment; f Pathway map showing the changes in the transcript levels of glycolysis-related genes in the medullary region. Scale bar: the yellow and orange colors represent upregulated genes (adjusted P-value < 0.05, |log2 FC| > 0.25), green color indicates genes change that did not reach the fold change threshold