GraphTreeGen: Subtree-Centric Approach to Efficient and Supervised Graph Generation

Abstract

Brain connectomes, representing neural connectivity as graphs, are crucial for understanding brain organization but costly and time-consuming to acquire, motivating generative approaches. Recent advances in graph generative modeling offer a data-driven alternative, enabling synthetic connectome generation and reducing dependence on large neuroimaging datasets. However, current models face key limitations: (i) compressing the whole graph into a single latent code (e.g., VGAEs) blurs fine-grained local motifs; (ii) relying on rich node attributes rarely available in connectomes reduces reconstruction quality; (iii) edge-centric models emphasize topology but overlook accurate edge-weight prediction, harming quantitative fidelity; and (iv) computationally expensive designs (e.g., edge-conditioned convolutions) impose high memory demands, limiting scalability. We propose GraphTreeGen (GTG), a subtree-centric generative framework for efficient, accurate connectome synthesis. GTG decomposes each connectome into entropy-guided k-hop trees capturing informative local structure, encoded by a shared GCN. A bipartite message-passing layer fuses subtree embeddings with global node features, while a dual-branch decoder jointly predicts edge existence and weights to reconstruct the adjacency matrix. GTG outperforms state-of-the-art baselines in self-supervised tasks and remains competitive in supervised settings, delivering higher structural fidelity and more precise weights with far less memory. Its modular design enables extensions to connectome super-resolution and cross-modality synthesis. Code: https://github.com/basiralab/GTG/