Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Mol Aspects Med. 2018 Feb;59:36-46. doi: 10.1016/j.mam.2017.07.003. Epub 2017 Aug 1.
Cells are the basic building blocks of organisms and each cell is unique. Single-cell RNA sequencing has emerged as an indispensable tool to dissect the cellular heterogeneity and decompose tissues into cell types and/or cell states, which offers enormous potential for de novo discovery. Single-cell transcriptomic atlases provide unprecedented resolution to reveal complex cellular events and deepen our understanding of biological systems. In this review, we summarize and compare single-cell RNA sequencing technologies, that were developed since 2009, to facilitate a well-informed choice of method. The applications of these methods in different biological contexts are also discussed. We anticipate an ever-increasing role of single-cell RNA sequencing in biology with further improvement in providing spatial information and coupling to other cellular modalities. In the future, such biological findings will greatly benefit medical research.
细胞是生物的基本组成单位，每个细胞都是独一无二的。单细胞 RNA 测序已成为剖析细胞异质性并将组织分解为细胞类型和/或细胞状态的不可或缺的工具，为新发现提供了巨大的潜力。单细胞转录组图谱提供了前所未有的分辨率，以揭示复杂的细胞事件，并加深我们对生物系统的理解。在这篇综述中，我们总结和比较了自 2009 年以来开发的单细胞 RNA 测序技术，以方便人们明智地选择方法。还讨论了这些方法在不同生物背景下的应用。我们预计单细胞 RNA 测序在生物学中的作用将越来越大，随着提供空间信息和与其他细胞模式的结合而进一步改进。在未来，这些生物学发现将极大地有益于医学研究。
