scholarly journals Expression profiles of multiple genes in single neurons of Alzheimer’s disease

1998 ◽  
Vol 95 (16) ◽  
pp. 9620-9625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nienwen Chow ◽  
Chris Cox ◽  
Linda M. Callahan ◽  
Jill M. Weimer ◽  
LiRong Guo ◽  
...  

Many changes have been described in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, including loss of neurons and formation of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The molecular mechanisms underlying these pathologies are unclear. Northern blot, dot-blot, and reverse transcription-coupled PCR analyses have demonstrated altered expression levels of multiple messages in AD brain. Because not all cells are equally affected by the disease, these methods obviously cannot study the changes in relation to disease states of individual cells. We address this problem by using antisense RNA profiling of single cells. We present expression profiles of single neurons at early and late stages of AD and describe statistical tools for data analysis. With multivariate canonical analysis, we were able to distinguish the disease state on the basis of altered expression of multiple messages. To validate this approach, we compared results obtained by this approach with results obtained by in situ hybridization analysis. When the neurofilament medium subunit was used as a marker, our results from an antisense RNA profiling revealed no change in neurofilament medium subunit expression between early- and late-stage AD, consistent with findings obtained with in situ hybridization. However, our results obtained by either analysis at the single-cell level differed from the reported decrease in AD neocortex obtained by Northern blot analysis [Kittur, S., Hoh, J., Endo, H., Tourtellotte, W., Weeks, B. S., Markesbery, W. & Adler, W. (1994) J. Geriatr. Psychiatry Neurol. 7, 153–158]. Thus, the strategy of using the single-cell antisense RNA approach to identify altered gene expression in postmortem AD brain, followed by detailed in situ hybridization studies for genes of interest, is valuable in the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying AD neuropathology.

2021 ◽  
pp. 030098582110063
Author(s):  
Francesco C. Origgi ◽  
Patricia Otten ◽  
Petra Lohmann ◽  
Ursula Sattler ◽  
Thomas Wahli ◽  
...  

A comparative study was carried out on common and agile frogs ( Rana temporaria and R. dalmatina) naturally infected with ranid herpesvirus 3 (RaHV3) and common toads ( Bufo bufo) naturally infected with bufonid herpesvirus 1 (BfHV1) to investigate common pathogenetic pathways and molecular mechanisms based on macroscopic, microscopic, and ultrastructural pathology as well as evaluation of gene expression. Careful examination of the tissue changes, supported by in situ hybridization, at different stages of development in 6 frogs and 14 toads revealed that the skin lesions are likely transient, and part of a tissue cycle necessary for viral replication in the infected hosts. Transcriptomic analysis, carried out on 2 naturally infected and 2 naïve common frogs ( Rana temporaria) and 2 naturally infected and 2 naïve common toads ( Bufo bufo), revealed altered expression of genes involved in signaling and cell remodeling in diseased animals. Finally, virus transcriptomics revealed that both RaHV3 and BfHV1 had relatively high expression of a putative immunomodulating gene predicted to encode a decoy receptor for tumor necrosis factor in the skin of the infected hosts. Thus, the comparable lesions in infected frogs and toads appear to reflect a concerted epidermal and viral cycle, with presumptive involvement of signaling and gene remodeling host and immunomodulatory viral genes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (39) ◽  
pp. 19490-19499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenglong Xia ◽  
Jean Fan ◽  
George Emanuel ◽  
Junjie Hao ◽  
Xiaowei Zhuang

The expression profiles and spatial distributions of RNAs regulate many cellular functions. Image-based transcriptomic approaches provide powerful means to measure both expression and spatial information of RNAs in individual cells within their native environment. Among these approaches, multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) has achieved spatially resolved RNA quantification at transcriptome scale by massively multiplexing single-molecule FISH measurements. Here, we increased the gene throughput of MERFISH and demonstrated simultaneous measurements of RNA transcripts from ∼10,000 genes in individual cells with ∼80% detection efficiency and ∼4% misidentification rate. We combined MERFISH with cellular structure imaging to determine subcellular compartmentalization of RNAs. We validated this approach by showing enrichment of secretome transcripts at the endoplasmic reticulum, and further revealed enrichment of long noncoding RNAs, RNAs with retained introns, and a subgroup of protein-coding mRNAs in the cell nucleus. Leveraging spatially resolved RNA profiling, we developed an approach to determine RNA velocity in situ using the balance of nuclear versus cytoplasmic RNA counts. We applied this approach to infer pseudotime ordering of cells and identified cells at different cell-cycle states, revealing ∼1,600 genes with putative cell cycle-dependent expression and a gradual transcription profile change as cells progress through cell-cycle stages. Our analysis further revealed cell cycle-dependent and cell cycle-independent spatial heterogeneity of transcriptionally distinct cells. We envision that the ability to perform spatially resolved, genome-wide RNA profiling with high detection efficiency and accuracy by MERFISH could help address a wide array of questions ranging from the regulation of gene expression in cells to the development of cell fate and organization in tissues.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10539-10539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Chieh Wang ◽  
Daniel Ramskold ◽  
Shujun Luo ◽  
Robin Li ◽  
Qiaolin Deng ◽  
...  

10539 Background: Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer. Late-stage melanoma is highly metastatic and currently lacks effective treatment. This discouraging clinical observation highlights the need for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying melanoma initiation and progression and for developing new therapeutic approaches based on novel targets. Although genome-wide transcriptome analyses have been frequently used to study molecular alterations in clinical samples, it has been technically challenging to obtain the transcriptomic profiles at single-cell level. Methods: Using antibody-mediated magnetic activated cell separation (MACS), we isolated and individualized putative circulating melanoma cells (CMCs) from the blood samples of the melanoma patients at advance stages. The transcriptomic analysis based on a novel and robust mRNA-Seq protocol (Smart-Seq) was established and applied to the putative CMCs for single-cell profiling. Results: We have discovered distinct gene expression patterns, including new putative markers for CMCs. Meanwhile, the gene expression profiles derived of the CMC candidates isolated from the patient’s blood samples are closely-related to the expression profiles of other cells originated from human melanocytes, including normal melanocytes in primary culture and melanoma cell lines. Compared with existing methods, Smart-Seq has improved read coverage across transcripts, which provides advantage for better analyzing transcript isoforms and SNPs. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the techniques developed in this research for cell isolation and transcriptomic analyses can potentially be used for addressing many biological and clinical questions requiring genomewide transcriptome profiling in rare cells.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnav Moudgil ◽  
Michael N. Wilkinson ◽  
Xuhua Chen ◽  
June He ◽  
Alex J. Cammack ◽  
...  

AbstractIn situ measurements of transcription factor (TF) binding are confounded by cellular heterogeneity and represent averaged profiles in complex tissues. Single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) is capable of resolving different cell types based on gene expression profiles, but no technology exists to directly link specific cell types to the binding pattern of TFs in those cell types. Here, we present self-reporting transposons (SRTs) and their use in single cell calling cards (scCC), a novel assay for simultaneously capturing gene expression profiles and mapping TF binding sites in single cells. First, we show how the genomic locations of SRTs can be recovered from mRNA. Next, we demonstrate that SRTs deposited by the piggyBac transposase can be used to map the genome-wide localization of the TFs SP1, through a direct fusion of the two proteins, and BRD4, through its native affinity for piggyBac. We then present the scCC method, which maps SRTs from scRNA-seq libraries, thus enabling concomitant identification of cell types and TF binding sites in those same cells. As a proof-of-concept, we show recovery of cell type-specific BRD4 and SP1 binding sites from cultured cells. Finally, we map Brd4 binding sites in the mouse cortex at single cell resolution, thus establishing a new technique for studying TF biology in situ.


Blood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3844-3844
Author(s):  
Alejo E Rodriguez-Fraticelli ◽  
Caleb Weinreb ◽  
Allon Moshe Klein ◽  
Fernando Camargo

Abstract The hematopoietic system follows a hierarchical organization, with multipotent long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSCs) occupying the top tier. This paradigm, developed mostly through cell transplantation assays, has recently been contested by a series of studies performed under native conditions, without transplantation. Application of systems-level single cell methods in this setting has revealed a heterogeneity of cell states within progenitors and stem cells, prompting a reevaluation of the theories of hematopoietic lineage fate decisions. We have previously described that hematopoietic stem cell fates are clonally heterogeneous under steady state and uncovered that a fraction of LT-HSCs contributes to a significant proportion of the megakaryocytic cell lineage under steady state, while rarely generating other types of progeny in unperturbed conditions. To elucidate the molecular underpinnings of this functional lineage-output heterogeneity, we developed a technique to barcode hematopoietic cells at the RNA level in order to simultaneously capture the lineage relationships and transcriptional states of HSCs. Using a droplet-based massive single cell RNAseq platform, we analyzed thousands of engrafted hematopoietic stem cells together with a sufficiently significant representation of downstream progenitor cells to measure HSC output. Inspection of the resulting "stem cell state-fate maps" revealed a variety of stem cell behaviors, including single cell quiescence, asymmetric and symmetric divisions, and clonal expansion. We also connected these behaviors with some of the previously observed heterogeneity in stem cell outcomes, including lineage bias, lineage output and clonal competition. Importantly, clustering of expression profiles revealed significant differences in the transcriptional programs related with some of these behaviors, which illuminate the molecular machineries that operate at the stem cell level to define this heterogeneity. Thus, our work has identified potential novel mediators for stem cell heterogeneity, which we are functionally analyzing in further detail to understand their molecular mechanisms. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Tran ◽  
S Yoon ◽  
ST Min ◽  
S Andersen ◽  
K Devitt ◽  
...  

AbstractThe ability to study cancer-immune cell communication across the whole tumor section without tissue dissociation is important to understand molecular mechanisms of cancer immunotherapy and drug targets. Current experimental methods such as immunohistochemistry allow researchers to investigate a small number of cells or a limited number of ligand-receptor pairs at tissue scale with limited cellular resolution. In this work, we developed a powerful experimental and analytical pipeline that allows for the genome-wide discovery and targeted validation of cellular communication. By profiling thousands of genes, spatial transcriptomic and single-cell RNA sequencing data show genes that are possibly involved in interactions. The expression of the candidate genes could be visualized by single-molecule in situ hybridization and droplet digital PCR. We developed a computational pipeline called STRISH that enables us to quantitatively model cell-cell interactions by automatically scanning for local expression of RNAscope data to recapitulate an interaction landscape across the whole tissue. Furthermore, we showed the strong correlation of microscopic RNAscope imaging data analyzed by STRISH with the gene expression values measured by droplet digital PCR. We validated the unique ability of this approach to discover new cell-cell interactions in situ through analysis of two types of cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. We expect that the approach described here will help to discover and validate ligand receptor interactions in different biological contexts such as immune-cancer cell interactions within a tumor.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikos Karaiskos ◽  
Philipp Wahle ◽  
Jonathan Alles ◽  
Anastasiya Boltengagen ◽  
Salah Ayoub ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDrosophila is a premier model system for understanding the molecular mechanisms of development. By the onset of morphogenesis, ~6000 cells express distinct gene combinations according to embryonic position. Despite extensive mRNA in situ screens, combinatorial gene expression within individual cells is largely unknown. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehensively identify the coding and non-coding transcripts that drive patterning and to decipher the molecular basis of cellular identity. Here, we single-cell sequence precisely staged embryos, measuring >3100 genes per cell. We produce a ‘transcriptomic blueprint’ of development – a virtual embryo where 3D locations of sequenced cells are confidently identified. Our “Drosophila-Virtual-Expression-eXplorer” performs virtual in situ hybridizations and computes expression gradients. Using DVEX, we predict spatial expression and discover patterned lncRNAs. DEVX is sensitive enough to detect subtle evolutionary changes in expression patterns between Drosophila species. We believe DVEX is a prototype for powerful single cell studies in complex tissues.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Takeuchi ◽  
Mari Yamamoto ◽  
Megumi Fukui ◽  
Tadashi Maezawa ◽  
Mikiko Nishioka ◽  
...  

Abstract In vitro maturation of human oocytes is widely used for infertility treatment. However, the success rate of maturation varies depending on patients and molecular mechanisms underlying successful maturation remain unclear. Especially, gene expression profiles of oocytes at each maturation stage need to be revealed to understand the differential developmental abilities of oocytes. Here, we show transcriptomes of human oocytes during in vitro maturation by single cell RNA-seq analyses. Hundreds of transcripts dynamically altered their expression, and we identify molecular pathways and upstream regulators that may govern oocyte maturation. Furthermore, oocytes that are delayed in their maturation show distinct transcriptomes. Finally, we reveal genes whose transcripts are enriched in each maturation stage and that can be used for selecting an oocyte with a high developmental potential. Taken together, our work uncovers transcriptomic changes during human oocyte maturation and provides a molecular insight into the differential developmental potential of each oocyte.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Sheng Wang ◽  
Jia Guo

The ability to quantify a large number of varied transcripts in single cells in their native spatial context is crucial to accelerate our understanding of health and disease. Bulk cell RNA analysis masks the heterogeneity in the cell population, while the conventional RNA imaging approaches suffer from low multiplexing capacity. Recent advances in multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methods enable comprehensive RNA profiling in individual cells in situ. These technologies will have wide applications in many biological and biomedical fields, including cell type classification, signaling network analysis, tissue architecture, disease diagnosis and patient stratification, etc. In this minireview, we will present the recent technological advances of multiplexed single-cell in situ RNA profiling assays, discuss their advantages and limitations, describe their biological applications, highlight the current challenges, and propose potential solutions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 360-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Lubeck ◽  
Ahmet F Coskun ◽  
Timur Zhiyentayev ◽  
Mubhij Ahmad ◽  
Long Cai
Keyword(s):  

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