Single-Cell RNA Sequencing: Unraveling the Brain One Cell at a Time

Abstract

Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is an exciting new technology allowing the analysis of transcriptomes from individual cells, and is ideally suited to address the inherent complexity and dynamics of the central nervous system. ScRNA-seq has already been applied to the study of molecular taxonomy of the brain. This work has paved the way to expanding our understanding of nervous systems and to providing insights into cellular susceptibilities and molecular mechanisms in neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we discuss the recent progress and the challenges in applying this technology to advance our understanding of the brain. We favor the application of scRNA-seq in the discovery of targets and biomarkers as a new approach in developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

FMRP binding to a ranked subset of long genes is revealed by coupled CLIP and TRAP in specific neuronal cell types

“…Recent experiments using labeled cell sorting 68 and single cell RNA sequencing [69][70][71][72][73] have revealed great heterogeneity in gene expression among the cells of the CNS. This is true at the level of characteristic patterns that define different cell populations as well as different responses among these cells to input or disease processes 74 .…”

Concurrent cell type–specific isolation and profiling of mouse brains in inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease

“…Single-cell transcriptional analysis has been increasingly used to profile specific cell types, providing a great deal of information related to cell type subpopulations (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). However, single-cell RNA sequencing does not result in high coverage of the transcriptome, and the results obtained are often unable to be integrated for systems biology applications designed to analyze cellular crosstalk in the CNS in health and disease (29,35).…”

Transcriptomics in Toxicogenomics, Part I: Experimental Design, Technologies, Publicly Available Data, and Regulatory Aspects

“…Since the first single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) protocol was published in 2009 [109], there has been increasing interest in applying this technique in various areas of research, especially in cellular heterogeneity, such as in tumors [110], the immune system [111], the brain [112], and embryo development [113], which is often masked in the typical RNA-Seq. In TGx studies, this technique has been extensively used to analyze drug tolerance in cancer cells [114].…”