Project description:Smooth muscle cells exist in many different locations within the body, including blood vessels and airways. The heterogeneity of smooth muscle cells has been related to their embryological origins and could have implications in many diseases, including atherosclerosis, pulmonary hypertension, and asthma. Here we aimed to study the heterogeneity of Acta2+ cells in the mouse lung and to identify specific markers for Acta2+ sub-populations. We used a mouse line containing an Acta2hrGFP/Cspg4dsRed reporter and performed single cell RNA sequencing of Acta2+ cells isolated from adult mouse lungs. We identified 3 main distinct clusters, corresponding to airway smooth muscle (ASM), vascular smooth muscle (VSM) and mesenchymal alveolar niche cells (MANCs), and extracted specific gene signatures for each of these cell types. Our dataset and gene signatures help address the heterogeneity of Acta2+ lineages in the lung and will be of use for future studies focusing on smooth muscle cells in the lung and in other organs.
Project description:Single-cell RNA datasets for aortic tissue from 8-week-old inducible smooth muscle cell-specific knock-in of Acta2 R179C mutation vs. littermate controls and aortic aneurysm tissue from a human patient carrying an ACTA2 R179H variant vs. a pediatric organ donor healthy control.
Project description:This study presents a cross-species single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the meniscus. The analysis includes genetic lineage tracing mice, wild-type rats, and dogs. Genetic Lineage Tracing Mice: ACTA2-CreERT mice (generated via CRISPR/Cas9 knock-in at the Acta2 locus) were crossed with R26-CAG-LSL-tdTomato reporter mice. All mice received tamoxifen (75 mg/kg, i.p. for 5 days) to induce tdTomato expression in ACTA2-lineage cells. Menisci were harvested from an early post-induction cohort at 2 weeks (n=13) and a late cohort at 10 weeks of age (n=10). Other Species: Menisci were also analyzed from 12-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=4) and 12-month-old male beagles (n=2). Single-cell suspensions were captured and barcoded using the BD Rhapsody system. Libraries were constructed with the BD Resolve Whole-Transcriptome Amplification workflow and sequenced on Illumina platforms. Bioinformatic analysis was performed using Seurat for integration, clustering, and annotation of cell types, followed by subpopulation analysis and trajectory inference.
Project description:We performed micro-dissections of adult human lung obtained through Gift of Life and performed single nuclear RNA-sequencing (n = 2 biological replicates, age 20, 26 yo) on trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles.