Defining Cell Identity with Single‐Cell Omics

Abstract

Cells are a fundamental unit of life, and the ability to study the phenotypes and behaviors of individual cells is crucial to understanding the workings of complex biological systems. Cell phenotypes (epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic) exhibit dramatic heterogeneity between and within the different cell types and states underlying cellular functional diversity. Cell genotypes can also display heterogeneity throughout an organism, in the form of somatic genetic variation—most notably in the emergence and evolution of tumors. Recent technical advances in single‐cell isolation and the development of omics approaches sensitive enough to reveal these aspects of cell identity have enabled a revolution in the study of multicellular systems. In this review, we discuss the technologies available to resolve the genomes, epigenomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes of single cells from a wide variety of living systems.

Cellular plasticity: A mechanism for homeostasis in the kidney

“…These techniques preserve spatial information about RNA location, a useful feature when dealing with cells such as principal and ICs of the collecting duct with inter‐regulating phenotypes. Similarly, single cell proteomics and in situ single cell proteomics will prove to be informative.…”

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“…In addition to introductory content, the one-day 1 A "documentary standard" is a classification, guide, practice, specification, terminology standard, or test method developed and established by knowledgeable people according to agreed principles of consensus, such as those of ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) International. 2 A biologics license application (BLA) is defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as follows: The biologics license application is a request for permission to introduce, or deliver for introduction, a biologic product into interstate commerce (21 CFR 601.2). The BLA is regulated under 21 CFR 600-680.…”

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“…Single‐cell omics analysis has been promoting rapid advances in revealing heterogeneity‐related molecular driving forces for cell subtype classification and physiology identification . Genome, transcriptome, epigenome, proteome, and metabolome are fundamental omics constitutions that significantly reflect single‐cell developmental trajectory, current status and possible future progresses.…”

“…Single-cell omics analysis has been promoting rapid advances in revealing heterogeneity-related molecular driving forces for cell subtype classification and physiology identification. [68] Genome, transcriptome, epigenome, proteome, and metabolome are fundamental omics constitutions that significantly reflect single-cell developmental trajectory, current status and possible future progresses. Hitherto, microfluidic technologies have fueled the engines of innovation in this field via three aspects: high throughput to detect more cells at the same time, high sensitivity to identify low-copy/expression molecules, and high accuracy to reduce contaminations and bias.…”