Single-Cell Sequencing on Marine Life: Application and Future Development

Abstract

Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) is the genomic approach that directly examines gene expression information from individual cells and provides a higher resolution of cellular differences than bulk RNA-seq. In the past decade, with the rapid development of microfluid, barcoding, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, scRNA-seq has revolutionized transcriptomic studies and gained great success and broad prospects. However, compared with the wide use in the few model animals, the application of scRNA-seq in marine organisms is limited due to the high cost of early scRNA-seq and the immature of single-cell methods for marine organisms. Recently, with the increase of genomic data, maturation of scRNA-seq platform and downstream bioinformatics algorithms, the scRNA-seq has been successfully applied in several marine model animals with great success, which demonstrated that the scRNA-seq could be the ideal and powerful tool to extend our understanding of marine organisms’ evolutionary and physiological processes and their adaptation to ecological niches. Here, we review the state-of-the-art improvements of single-cell sequencing techniques and new studies that apply single-cell methods to marine organisms. We also summarize the opportunities and challenges scientists may face in further single-cell research and propose several appealing prospects that may benefit from the combination of single-cell techniques and marine organisms.

A Guide to Biodetection in Droplets

“…In particular, this is true because analysis processing via deep learning algorithms is quickly advancing , and the development of user-friendly and freely accessible pipelines from droplet image analysis is robust. − Making droplet emulsion generation quick and simple, moreover, especially correlates with the current trend seen in the field of nucleic acid detection. The focus is shifting toward not only high-resolution single-cell analysis ,, but also rapid and easy to use diagnostic and monitoring tools. ,,,− Nevertheless, when addressing detection of extremely small molecules in complex matrices (e.g., neurotransmitters and electrolytes), options are restrictive due to current scientific technological limitations. Often such target detection currently still requires very specific labels and/or specific complex experimental setups with costly hardware. ,,, There is, however, no doubt that droplet emulsion methods provide prospective workflows and labeling options.…”

“… 73 − 75 Making droplet emulsion generation quick and simple, moreover, especially correlates with the current trend seen in the field of nucleic acid detection. The focus is shifting toward not only high-resolution single-cell analysis 11 , 76 , 77 but also rapid and easy to use diagnostic and monitoring tools. 22 , 24 , 28 , 78 − 80 Nevertheless, when addressing detection of extremely small molecules in complex matrices (e.g., neurotransmitters and electrolytes), options are restrictive due to current scientific technological limitations.…”