Single-cell transcriptome of Nepeta tenuifolia leaves reveal differentiation trajectories in glandular trichomes

Abstract

The peltate glandular trichomes (PGTs) on Nepeta tenuifolia leaves can secrete and store bioactive essential oils. ScRNA-seq is a powerful tool for uncovering heterogeneous cells and exploring the development and differentiation of specific cells. Due to leaves rich in PGTs, the young leaves were used to isolated protoplasts and successfully captured 33,254 protoplasts for sequencing purposes. After cell type annotation, all the cells were partitioned into six broad populations with 19 clusters. Cells from PGTs were identified based on the expression patterns of trichome-specific genes, monoterpene biosynthetic genes, and metabolic analysis of PGT secretions. The developmental trajectories of PGTs were delineated by pseudotime analysis. Integrative analysis of scRNA-seq data from N. tenuifolia leaves and Arabidopsis thaliana shoot revealed that PGTs were specific to N. tenuifolia. Thus, our results provide a promising basis for exploring cell development and differentiation in plants, especially glandular trichome initiation and development.

Mass spectrometry imaging and single-cell transcriptional profiling reveal the tissue-specific regulation of bioactive ingredient biosynthesis in Taxus leaves

“…The revolutionary application of 10× Genomics technology in plant scRNA-seq has enhanced the ability to analyze heterogeneity of gene expression at the single-cell level ( Liu et al., 2022 ). To date, leaf single-cell transcriptional profiles have been reported for several plants, including Nepeta tenuifolia , Arabidopsis , rice, peanut, Brassica rapa , and tea ( Liu et al., 2021a ; Lopez-Anido et al., 2021 ; Wang et al., 2021 , 2022a ; Zhou et al., 2022a ). Although the number of captured cells varied among these different experiments, the median number of genes per cell was less than 2000.…”

单细胞测序在植物研究中的应用

“…2016年, Hou等人 [26] 建立了三重组学测序技术(sin- 模式植物拟南芥 [30,31] , 农作物水稻 [32] 、玉米 [33,34] 为主, 未曾涉及药用植物的研究. 2021年及之后, 除了大 豆 [35] 、草莓 [36] 、茶树 [37] 、木薯 [38] 、白菜 [39] 、杨树 [40] 等农作物以外, 在苜蓿 [41] 、长春花 [42] 、龙眼 [43] 、荆 芥 [44] 等药用植物中也有了研究. 细胞核是细胞中复杂 且高度特化的细胞器, 包含细胞的大部分遗传信息, 对 于一些植物中特定组织来说, 分离单细胞核相对简 单 [45] .…”

Unraveling Developmental Dynamics and Triterpene Saponin Biosynthesis in Panax notoginseng Stem Apices by Single-Cell Transcriptomics

“…Among cash crops, peanut leaves, tea leaves, tobacco corollas, strawberry leaves, cotton ovules and leaves, and Bombax ceiba have attracted extensive interest [38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Furthermore, the medicinal plant has placed particular emphasis on the leaves of Nepeta tenuifolia, the foliage of Catharanthus roseus, and the stems and leaves of Taxus mairei [45][46][47][48]. These pioneering studies have provided new avenues for the depth exploration of fundamental processes in plant biology, such as organ development and cellular differentiation.…”