Guided structure learning of DAGs for count data

In this paper, we tackle structure learning of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs), with the idea of exploiting available prior knowledge of the domain at hand to guide the search of the best structure. In particular, we assume to know the topological ordering of variables in addition to the given data. We study a new algorithm for learning the structure of DAGs, proving its theoretical consistency in the limit of infinite observations. Furthermore, we experimentally compare the proposed algorithm to several popular competitors, to study its behaviour in finite samples. Biological validation of the algorithm is presented through the analysis of non-small cell lung cancer data.