Low-coverage single-cell mRNA sequencing reveals cellular heterogeneity and activated signaling pathways in developing cerebral cortex.

ABSTRACT: Large-scale surveys of single-cell gene expression have the potential to reveal rare cell populations and lineage relationships but require efficient methods for cell capture and mRNA sequencing. Although cellular barcoding strategies allow parallel sequencing of single cells at ultra-low depths, the limitations of shallow sequencing have not been investigated directly. By capturing 301 single cells from 11 populations using microfluidics and analyzing single-cell transcriptomes across downsampled sequencing depths, we demonstrate that shallow single-cell mRNA sequencing (~50,000 reads per cell) is sufficient for unbiased cell-type classification and biomarker identification. In the developing cortex, we identify diverse cell types, including multiple progenitor and neuronal subtypes, and

SUBMITTER: Pollen AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4191988 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature