Yan Yunan, Zhu Senlin, Jia Minghui, Chen Xinyi, Qi Wenlingli, Gu Fengfei, Valencak Teresa G, Liu Jian-Xin, Sun Hui-Zeng
Institute of Dairy Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Key Laboratory of Dairy Cow Genetic Improvement and Milk Quality Research of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2024 Aug 2;15(1):102. doi: 10.1186/s40104-024-01063-y.
Understanding biological mechanisms is fundamental for improving animal production and health to meet the growing demand for high-quality protein. As an emerging biotechnology, single-cell transcriptomics has been gradually applied in diverse aspects of animal research, offering an effective method to study the gene expression of high-throughput single cells of different tissues/organs in animals. In an unprecedented manner, researchers have identified cell types/subtypes and their marker genes, inferred cellular fate trajectories, and revealed cell‒cell interactions in animals using single-cell transcriptomics. In this paper, we introduce the development of single-cell technology and review the processes, advancements, and applications of single-cell transcriptomics in animal research. We summarize recent efforts using single-cell transcriptomics to obtain a more profound understanding of animal nutrition and health, reproductive performance, genetics, and disease models in different livestock species. Moreover, the practical experience accumulated based on a large number of cases is highlighted to provide a reference for determining key factors (e.g., sample size, cell clustering, and cell type annotation) in single-cell transcriptomics analysis. We also discuss the limitations and outlook of single-cell transcriptomics in the current stage. This paper describes the comprehensive progress of single-cell transcriptomics in animal research, offering novel insights and sustainable advancements in agricultural productivity and animal health.
了解生物学机制是提高动物生产性能和健康水平以满足对优质蛋白质不断增长需求的基础。作为一种新兴的生物技术，单细胞转录组学已逐渐应用于动物研究的各个方面，为研究动物不同组织/器官的高通量单细胞基因表达提供了一种有效方法。研究人员以前所未有的方式，利用单细胞转录组学识别了动物中的细胞类型/亚类型及其标记基因，推断了细胞命运轨迹，并揭示了细胞间相互作用。在本文中，我们介绍了单细胞技术的发展，并综述了单细胞转录组学在动物研究中的流程、进展和应用。我们总结了近期利用单细胞转录组学对不同家畜物种的动物营养与健康、繁殖性能、遗传学和疾病模型进行更深入了解的研究成果。此外，还强调了基于大量案例积累的实践经验，为确定单细胞转录组学分析中的关键因素（如样本量、细胞聚类和细胞类型注释）提供参考。我们还讨论了现阶段单细胞转录组学的局限性和前景。本文描述了单细胞转录组学在动物研究中的全面进展，为农业生产力和动物健康提供了新的见解和可持续的进展。
