Multiplexed single-cell 3D spatial gene expression analysis in plant tissue using PHYTOMap.

Retrieving the complex responses of individual cells in the native three-dimensional tissue context is crucial for a complete understanding of tissue functions. Here, we present PHYTOMap (plant hybridization-based targeted observation of gene expression map), a multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization method that enables single-cell and spatial analysis of gene expression in whole-mount plant tissue in a transgene-free manner and at low cost. We applied PHYTOMap to simultaneously analyse 28 cell-type marker genes in Arabidopsis roots and successfully identified major cell types, demonstrating that our method can substantially accelerate the spatial mapping of marker genes defined in single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets in complex plant tissue.