Asymmetry tests for bifurcating auto-regressive processes with missing data

We present symmetry tests for bifurcating autoregressive (BAR) processes when some data are missing. BAR processes typically model cell division data. Each cell can be of one of two types odd or even. The goal of this paper is to study the possible asymmetry between odd and even cells in a single observed lineage. We first derive asymmetry tests for the lineage itself, modeled by a two-type Galton–Watson process, and then derive tests for the observed BAR process. We present applications on simulated and real data.