Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
BJOG. 2022 Jan;129(2):208-220. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16970. Epub 2021 Nov 18.
Single-cell technologies capture cellular heterogeneity to focus on previously poorly described subpopulations of cells. Work by our laboratory and many others has metagenomically characterised a low biomass intrauterine microbial community, alongside microbial transcripts, antigens and metabolites, but the functional importance of low biomass microbial communities in placental immuno-microenvironments is still being elucidated. Given their hypothesised role in modulating inflammation and immune ontogeny to enable tolerance of beneficial microbes while warding off pathogens, there is a need for single-cell resolution. Herein, we summarise the potential for mechanistic understanding of these and other key fundamental early developmental processes by applying single-cell approaches.
单细胞技术捕捉细胞异质性，重点关注以前描述不佳的细胞亚群。我们实验室和其他许多实验室的工作已经对低生物量宫内微生物群落进行了宏基因组学特征描述，同时还对微生物转录本、抗原和代谢物进行了描述，但低生物量微生物群落在胎盘免疫微环境中的功能重要性仍在阐明之中。鉴于它们在调节炎症和免疫发生中的假设作用，使有益微生物能够耐受，同时抵御病原体，因此需要单细胞分辨率。在此，我们通过应用单细胞方法，总结了对这些和其他关键早期发育过程进行机制理解的潜力。
