Wei Yanrong, Lei Junjie, Peng Yujie, Chang Huizhong, Luo Ting, Tang Yuanchun, Wang Lifang, Wen Huiying, Volpe Giacomo, Liu Longqi, Han Lei
College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
BGI Research, Hangzhou, China.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2024 Apr 10;17:1365978. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1365978. eCollection 2024.
Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play essential regulatory functions in various physiological and pathological processes in the brain. To systematically characterize the ncRNA profile in cortical cells, we downloaded single-cell SMART-Seq v4 data of mouse cerebral cortex. Our results revealed that the ncRNAs alone are sufficient to define the identity of most cortical cell types. We identified 1,600 ncRNAs that exhibited cell type specificity, even yielding to distinguish microglia from perivascular macrophages with ncRNA. Moreover, we characterized cortical layer and region specific ncRNAs, in line with the results by spatial transcriptome (ST) data. By constructing a co-expression network of ncRNAs and protein-coding genes, we predicted the function of ncRNAs. By integrating with genome-wide association studies data, we established associations between cell type-specific ncRNAs and traits related to neurological disorders. Collectively, our study identified differentially expressed ncRNAs at multiple levels and provided the valuable resource to explore the functions and dysfunctions of ncRNAs in cortical cells.
非编码RNA(ncRNAs)在大脑的各种生理和病理过程中发挥着重要的调节功能。为了系统地表征皮质细胞中的ncRNA谱,我们下载了小鼠大脑皮质的单细胞SMART-Seq v4数据。我们的结果表明,仅ncRNAs就足以定义大多数皮质细胞类型的身份。我们鉴定出1600种具有细胞类型特异性的ncRNAs,甚至能够通过ncRNA区分小胶质细胞和血管周围巨噬细胞。此外,我们表征了皮质层和区域特异性的ncRNAs,这与空间转录组(ST)数据的结果一致。通过构建ncRNAs和蛋白质编码基因的共表达网络,我们预测了ncRNAs的功能。通过整合全基因组关联研究数据,我们建立了细胞类型特异性ncRNAs与神经疾病相关性状之间的关联。总的来说,我们的研究在多个水平上鉴定了差异表达的ncRNAs,并为探索ncRNAs在皮质细胞中的功能和功能障碍提供了宝贵的资源。