biChordChart (bidirectional chord diagram | 有向弦图)

Plot bidirectional/directed/self-loop/self-links chord diagram (绘制 有向/双向 弦图/和弦图)

Plot bidirectional/directed/self-loop/self-links chord diagram (绘制 有向/双向 弦图/和弦图)

Basic usage

dataMat=randi([0,8],[5,5]);

% 创建弦图对象(Create bichord diagram object and draw)
BCC=biChordChart(dataMat,'Arrow','on');
BCC=BCC.draw();

% 添加刻度(Show ticks and tick labels)
BCC.tickState('on')
BCC.tickLabelState('on')

% 修改字体，字号及颜色(Set font properties)
BCC.setFont('FontName','Cambria','FontSize',17)

The automatic adjustment of scale density

rng(1)
dataMat=randi([0,5],[8,8]);

CList=[ 75,146,241; 252,180, 65; 224, 64, 10;   5,100,146; 191,191,191;
        26, 59,105; 255,227,130;  18,156,221; 202,107, 75;   0, 92,219;
       243,210,136;  80, 99,129; 241,185,168; 224,131, 10; 120,147,190]./255;

figure('Units','normalized','Position',[.02,.05,.6,.85])
% TickMode 'value'(default)/'linear'/auto
BCC = biChordChart(dataMat, 'Arrow','on', 'CData',CList,...
    'TickMode','auto', 'SSqRatio',-30/100, 'OSqRatio',80/100);
BCC=BCC.draw();

% 添加刻度
BCC.tickState('on')
BCC.tickLabelState('on')

Square, tick, label radius | square ratio

Add highlight arrow

rng(1)
dataMat=randi([1,8], [4,4]);

% 创建弦图对象(Create bichord diagram object)
BCC=biChordChart(dataMat,'Arrow','on','Sep',1/12);

% 开始绘图(Start drawing)
BCC=BCC.draw();

% 添加刻度(Show ticks and tick labels)
BCC.tickState('on')
BCC.tickLabelState('on')

% 修改字体，字号及颜色(Set font properties)
BCC.setFont('FontName','Cambria','FontSize',17)
BCC.addHighlightArrow(2, 3)
BCC.addHighlightArrow(2, 1)
BCC.addHighlightArrow(4, 4)

Reproduction of a Nature figure example

% Reproduced from: 
% Merchant, A.T., King, S.H., Nguyen, E. et al. 
% Semantic design of functional de novo genes from a genomic language model. 
% Nature 649, 749–758 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09749-7

rng(7)
labels = {'AAA lid','E-set','Calycin','Ubiquitin','RNase H','PDDEXK','Cupin', ...
          'Phage barrel','Dim A-B barrel','Peptidase CA','RING','Peptidase MA', ...
          '\beta-Propeller','HTH','Thioredoxin','GHD','OB','PKinase','An \beta-ribbon', ...
          'KH','SH3','TPR','GT-B','GT-A',{'ATP-';'grasp'},{'AB';'hydrolase'},{'TIM';'barrel'}, ...
          'Hybrid','Acetyltrans',{'Actin';'ATPase'},{'NADP';'Rossmann'},{'P-loop';'NTPase'}};
colors = [ 27, 16, 27; 107,200,173;  70,104,120;   4, 86, 92; 100,185,180;  96,100,172;
           51,128,130; 118,184,184;  85,173,170; 146,138,171; 161,204,203;  86,175,133;
           12,  3,  6; 185,183,204; 105,184,174; 105,201,173;  44, 88, 92; 102,183,184;
            0,122,124;  64, 72,132; 129,207,174;  67,132,122; 113,169,172; 101,184,167;
          165,204,218;   6, 73, 87; 102,185,178;  60, 49, 99;  78,127,140; 178,211,216;
          109,195,168; 196,241,223]./255;

data = (rand(32) > .96).*rand(32);
data(sub2ind([32,32], randi(32,1,32), 1:32)) = rand([32, 1])*5;
data([1,25,26,27,28,30,31,32],:) = data([1,25,26,27,28,30,31,32],:).*[15;3;18;15;3;3;5;5];
data(:,27) = data(:,27).*3;

figure()
tt = linspace(0, 2*pi, 100); R1 = 1.08; R2 = 1.2;
fill([cos(tt).*R1, cos(tt(end:-1:1)).*R2], [sin(tt).*R1, sin(tt(end:-1:1)).*R2], ...
    [229,229,229]./255, 'EdgeColor','none')


BCC = biChordChart(data, 'Sep',0);
BCC.LRadius = 1.07;
BCC.SRadius = [1, 1.05];
BCC.Label = labels;
BCC.CData = colors;
BCC.draw()

BCC.labelRotate('on')
BCC.setSquareProp('EdgeColor','k', 'LineWidth',1)
BCC.setChordProp('FaceAlpha', .5)

Reproduction of another Nature figure example

% Data source : 
% Lake, B.B., Menon, R., Winfree, S. et al. 
% An atlas of healthy and injured cell states and niches in the human kidney. 
% Nature 619, 585–594 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05769-3
% https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05769-3
% 41586_2023_5769_MOESM9_ESM.xlsx | sheet : panel_d_chordplot

see demo11.m for detail: