Cell type atlas and lineage tree of a whole complex animal by single-cell transcriptomics

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq1723
• Publication Date: 2018-04-19T18:05:19Z
• Authors: Mireya Plass; Jordi Solana; F. Alexander Wolf; Salah Ayoub; Aristotelis Misios; Petar Glažar; Benedikt Obermayer; Fabian J. Theis; Christine Kocks; Nikolaus Rajewsky
• Keywords: Cell type; Lineage (genetic); Tree (set theory)

Mapping the planarian transcriptome A cell type's defines active genes that control its biology. Two groups used single-cell RNA sequencing to define transcriptomes for essentially all types of a complete animal, regenerative Schmidtea mediterranea. Because pluripotent stem cells constantly differentiate rejuvenate any part body this species, developmental lineages are in adult animals. Fincher et al. determined most, if not all, types, including some were previously unknown. They also identified transition states and governing positional information. Plass transcriptomics computational algorithms reconstruct lineage tree capturing progressions from differentiated cells. could then predict gene programs specifically turned on off along tree, they approach study how behaved during regeneration. These whole-animal “atlases” powerful way metazoan Science , issue p. eaaq1736 eaaq1723