Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA; email:
Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; email:
Annu Rev Biophys. 2018 May 20;47:355-376. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-070317-032905.
Over the past five years, a rapidly developing experimental approach has enabled high-resolution and high-content information retrieval from intact multicellular animal (metazoan) systems. New chemical and physical forms are created in the hydrogel-tissue chemistry process, and the retention and retrieval of crucial phenotypic information regarding constituent cells and molecules (and their joint interrelationships) are thereby enabled. For example, rich data sets defining both single-cell-resolution gene expression and single-cell-resolution activity during behavior can now be collected while still preserving information on three-dimensional positioning and/or brain-wide wiring of those very same neurons-even within vertebrate brains. This new approach and its variants, as applied to neuroscience, are beginning to illuminate the fundamental cellular and chemical representations of sensation, cognition, and action. More generally, reimagining metazoans as metareactants-or positionally defined three-dimensional graphs of constituent chemicals made available for ongoing functionalization, transformation, and readout-is stimulating innovation across biology and medicine.
在过去的五年中，一种快速发展的实验方法使人们能够从完整的多细胞动物（后生动物）系统中获取高分辨率和高信息量的信息。在水凝胶-组织化学过程中创造了新的化学和物理形式，从而能够保留和检索关于组成细胞和分子（及其联合相互关系）的关键表型信息。例如，现在可以在保留有关这些神经元的三维定位和/或大脑范围内布线的信息的同时，收集定义单细胞分辨率基因表达和行为中单细胞分辨率活动的丰富数据集，即使在脊椎动物大脑中也是如此。这种新方法及其变体在神经科学中的应用开始揭示感觉、认知和行动的基本细胞和化学表现。更广泛地说，将后生动物重新想象为代谢反应物——或者是组成化学物质的位置定义的三维图形，这些化学物质可用于持续的功能化、转化和读出——正在激发生物学和医学领域的创新。
