scholarly journals Bulk and single-cell transcriptomics identify tobacco-use disparity in lung gene expression of ACE2, the receptor of 2019-nCov

Author(s):  
Guoshuai Cai

AbstractIn current severe global emergency situation of 2019-nCov outbreak, it is imperative to identify vulnerable and susceptible groups for effective protection and care. Recently, studies found that 2019-nCov and SARS-nCov share the same receptor, ACE2. In this study, we analyzed five large-scale bulk transcriptomic datasets of normal lung tissue and two single-cell transcriptomic datasets to investigate the disparities related to race, age, gender and smoking status in ACE2 gene expression and its distribution among cell types. We didn’t find significant disparities in ACE2 gene expression between racial groups (Asian vs Caucasian), age groups (>60 vs <60) or gender groups (male vs female). However, we observed significantly higher ACE2 gene expression in former smoker’s lung compared to non-smoker’s lung. Also, we found higher ACE2 gene expression in Asian current smokers compared to non-smokers but not in Caucasian current smokers, which may indicate an existence of gene-smoking interaction. In addition, we found that ACE2 gene is expressed in specific cell types related to smoking history and location. In bronchial epithelium, ACE2 is actively expressed in goblet cells of current smokers and club cells of non-smokers. In alveoli, ACE2 is actively expressed in remodelled AT2 cells of former smokers. Together, this study indicates that smokers especially former smokers may be more susceptible to 2019-nCov and have infection paths different with non-smokers. Thus, smoking history may provide valuable information in identifying susceptible population and standardizing treatment regimen.

Author(s):  
Guoshuai Cai

In current severe global emergency situation of 2019-nCov outbreak, it is imperative to identify vulnerable and susceptible groups for effective protection and care. Recently, studies found that 2019-nCov and SARS-nCov share the same receptor, ACE2. In this study, we analyzed four large-scale bulk transcriptomic datasets of normal lung tissue and two single-cell transcriptomic datasets to investigate the disparities related to race, age, gender and smoking status in ACE2 gene expression and its distribution among cell types. We didn&rsquo;t find significant disparities in ACE2 gene expression between racial groups (Asian vs Caucasian), age groups (&gt;60 vs &lt;60) or gender groups (male vs female). However, we observed significantly higher ACE2 gene expression in former smoker&rsquo;s lung compared to non-smoker&rsquo;s lung. Also, we found higher ACE2 gene expression in Asian current smokers compared to non-smokers but not in Caucasian current smokers, which may indicate an existence of gene-smoking interaction. In addition, we found that ACE2 gene is expressed in specific cell types related to smoking history and location. In bronchial epithelium, ACE2 is actively expressed in goblet cells of current smokers and club cells of non-smokers. In alveoli, ACE2 is actively expressed in remodelled AT2 cells of former smokers. Together, this study indicates that smokers especially former smokers may be more susceptible to 2019-nCov and have infection paths different with non-smokers. Thus, smoking history may provide valuable information in identifying susceptible population and standardizing treatment regimen.


Author(s):  
Guoshuai Cai

In current severe global emergency situation of 2019-nCov outbreak, it is imperative to identify vulnerable and susceptible groups for effective protection and care. Recently, studies found that 2019-nCov and SARS-nCov share the same receptor, ACE2. In this study, we analyzed five large-scale bulk transcriptomic datasets of normal lung tissue and two single-cell transcriptomic datasets to investigate the disparities related to race, age, gender and smoking status in ACE2 gene expression and its distribution among cell types. We didn&rsquo;t find significant disparities in ACE2 gene expression between racial groups (Asian vs Caucasian), age groups (&gt;60 vs &lt;60) or gender groups (male vs female). However, we observed significantly higher ACE2 gene expression in former smoker&rsquo;s lung compared to non-smoker&rsquo;s lung. Also, we found higher ACE2 gene expression in Asian current smokers compared to non-smokers but not in Caucasian current smokers, which may indicate an existence of gene-smoking interaction. In addition, we found that ACE2 gene is expressed in specific cell types related to smoking history and location. In bronchial epithelium, ACE2 is actively expressed in goblet cells of current smokers and club cells of non-smokers. In alveoli, ACE2 is actively expressed in remodelled AT2 cells of former smokers. Together, this study indicates that smokers especially former smokers may be more susceptible to 2019-nCov and have infection paths different with non-smokers. Thus, smoking history may provide valuable information in identifying susceptible population and standardizing treatment regimen.


Author(s):  
Guoshuai Cai

In current severe global emergency situation of 2019-nCov outbreak, it is imperative to identify vulnerable and susceptible groups for effective protection and care. Recently, studies found that 2019-nCov and SARS-nCov share the same receptor, ACE2. In this study, we analyzed four large-scale datasets of normal lung tissue to investigate the disparities related to race, age, gender and smoking status in ACE2 gene expression. No significant disparities in ACE2 gene expression were found between racial groups (Asian vs Caucasian), age groups (&gt;60 vs &lt;60) or gender groups (male vs female). However, we observed significantly higher ACE2 gene expression in smoker samples compared to non-smoker samples. This indicates the smokers may be more susceptible to 2019-nCov and thus smoking history should be considered in identifying susceptible population and standardizing treatment regimen.


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.


Author(s):  
Guoshuai Cai ◽  
Xiang Cui ◽  
Xia Zhu ◽  
Jun Zhou

The current spreading novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious and pathogenic and has attracted global attention. Recent studies have found that SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV share around 80% of homology and use the same cell entry receptor, ACE2. These inspired us to study other receptors of SARS-CoV, which may be used for SARS-CoV-2 binding as well. In this study, we screened the gene expression of three receptors (ACE2, DC-SIGN and L-SIGN) in four datasets of normal lung tissue from lung adenocarcinoma patients and two single-cell RNA sequencing datasets from normal lung and bronchial epithelial cells separately. No significant difference in gene expression of these three receptors were found between gender groups (male vs female). We found higher gene expression of DC-SIGN in elder with age&gt;60 and higher gene expression of L-SIGN in Caucasian than Asian. Similar to ACE2, we observed significantly higher DC-SIGN gene expression in the lungs of smokers, especially former smokers. However, smokers upregulate ACE2 and DC-SIGN gene expression in different cell types. In the whole lung, ACE2 is actively expressed in remodeled Alveolar Type II cells of former smokers, while DC-SIGN is largely expressed in monocytes of former smokers and dendritic cells of current smokers. In bronchial epithelium, no obvious gene expression of DC-SIGN and L-SIGN was observed while ACE2 was found to be actively expressed in goblet cells of current smokers and club cells of non-smokers. In conclusion, our findings may indicate that smokers, especially former smokers, and people over 60 have higher risk and are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Also, this study provides hints on possible SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity mechanisms in lung infection.


NAR Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Cui ◽  
Fei Qin ◽  
Xuanxuan Yu ◽  
Feifei Xiao ◽  
Guoshuai Cai

Abstract Tumor tissues are heterogeneous with different cell types in tumor microenvironment, which play an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Several computational algorithms and tools have been developed to infer the cell composition from bulk transcriptome profiles. However, they ignore the tissue specificity and thus a new resource for tissue-specific cell transcriptomic reference is needed for inferring cell composition in tumor microenvironment and exploring their association with clinical outcomes and tumor omics. In this study, we developed SCISSOR™ (https://thecailab.com/scissor/), an online open resource to fulfill that demand by integrating five orthogonal omics data of &gt;6031 large-scale bulk samples, patient clinical outcomes and 451 917 high-granularity tissue-specific single-cell transcriptomic profiles of 16 cancer types. SCISSOR™ provides five major analysis modules that enable flexible modeling with adjustable parameters and dynamic visualization approaches. SCISSOR™ is valuable as a new resource for promoting tumor heterogeneity and tumor–tumor microenvironment cell interaction research, by delineating cells in the tissue-specific tumor microenvironment and characterizing their associations with tumor omics and clinical outcomes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 579-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Dong ◽  
Yanan You ◽  
Jia Qian Wu

The composition and function of the central nervous system (CNS) is extremely complex. In addition to hundreds of subtypes of neurons, other cell types, including glia (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia) and vascular cells (endothelial cells and pericytes) also play important roles in CNS function. Such heterogeneity makes the study of gene transcription in CNS challenging. Transcriptomic studies, namely the analyses of the expression levels and structures of all genes, are essential for interpreting the functional elements and understanding the molecular constituents of the CNS. Microarray has been a predominant method for large-scale gene expression profiling in the past. However, RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology developed in recent years has many advantages over microarrays, and has enabled building more quantitative, accurate, and comprehensive transcriptomes of the CNS and other systems. The discovery of novel genes, diverse alternative splicing events, and noncoding RNAs has remarkably expanded the complexity of gene expression profiles and will help us to understand intricate neural circuits. Here, we discuss the procedures and advantages of RNA-Seq technology in mammalian CNS transcriptome construction, and review the approaches of sample collection as well as recent progress in building RNA-Seq-based transcriptomes from tissue samples and specific cell types.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Lacar ◽  
Sara B. Linker ◽  
Baptiste N. Jaeger ◽  
Suguna Rani Krishnaswami ◽  
Jerika J. Barron ◽  
...  

Abstract Single-cell sequencing methods have emerged as powerful tools for identification of heterogeneous cell types within defined brain regions. Application of single-cell techniques to study the transcriptome of activated neurons can offer insight into molecular dynamics associated with differential neuronal responses to a given experience. Through evaluation of common whole-cell and single-nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) methods, here we show that snRNA-seq faithfully recapitulates transcriptional patterns associated with experience-driven induction of activity, including immediate early genes (IEGs) such as Fos, Arc and Egr1. SnRNA-seq of mouse dentate granule cells reveals large-scale changes in the activated neuronal transcriptome after brief novel environment exposure, including induction of MAPK pathway genes. In addition, we observe a continuum of activation states, revealing a pseudotemporal pattern of activation from gene expression alone. In summary, snRNA-seq of activated neurons enables the examination of gene expression beyond IEGs, allowing for novel insights into neuronal activation patterns in vivo.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 161 (3) ◽  
pp. 1321-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
V A Kuznetsov ◽  
G D Knott ◽  
R F Bonner

Abstract Thousands of genes are expressed at such very low levels (≤1 copy per cell) that global gene expression analysis of rarer transcripts remains problematic. Ambiguity in identification of rarer transcripts creates considerable uncertainty in fundamental questions such as the total number of genes expressed in an organism and the biological significance of rarer transcripts. Knowing the distribution of the true number of genes expressed at each level and the corresponding gene expression level probability function (GELPF) could help resolve these uncertainties. We found that all observed large-scale gene expression data sets in yeast, mouse, and human cells follow a Pareto-like distribution model skewed by many low-abundance transcripts. A novel stochastic model of the gene expression process predicts the universality of the GELPF both across different cell types within a multicellular organism and across different organisms. This model allows us to predict the frequency distribution of all gene expression levels within a single cell and to estimate the number of expressed genes in a single cell and in a population of cells. A random “basal” transcription mechanism for protein-coding genes in all or almost all eukaryotic cell types is predicted. This fundamental mechanism might enhance the expression of rarely expressed genes and, thus, provide a basic level of phenotypic diversity, adaptability, and random monoallelic expression in cell populations.


Author(s):  
Jiebiao Wang ◽  
Kathryn Roeder ◽  
Bernie Devlin

AbstractWhen assessed over a large number of samples, bulk RNA sequencing provides reliable data for gene expression at the tissue level. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) deepens those analyses by evaluating gene expression at the cellular level. Both data types lend insights into disease etiology. With current technologies, however, scRNA-seq data are known to be noisy. Moreover, constrained by costs, scRNA-seq data are typically generated from a relatively small number of subjects, which limits their utility for some analyses, such as identification of gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). To address these issues while maintaining the unique advantages of each data type, we develop a Bayesian method (bMIND) to integrate bulk and scRNA-seq data. With a prior derived from scRNA-seq data, we propose to estimate sample-level cell-type-specific (CTS) expression from bulk expression data. The CTS expression enables large-scale sample-level downstream analyses, such as detecting CTS differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and eQTLs. Through simulations, we demonstrate that bMIND improves the accuracy of sample-level CTS expression estimates and power to discover CTS-DEGs when compared to existing methods. To further our understanding of two complex phenotypes, autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s disease, we apply bMIND to gene expression data of relevant brain tissue to identify CTS-DEGs. Our results complement findings for CTS-DEGs obtained from snRNA-seq studies, replicating certain DEGs in specific cell types while nominating other novel genes in those cell types. Finally, we calculate CTS-eQTLs for eleven brain regions by analyzing GTEx V8 data, creating a new resource for biological insights.


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