Epidermal homeostasis is governed by a balance between keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation with contributions from cell-cell interactions, but conserved or divergent mechanisms governing this equilibrium across species and how an imbalance contributes to skin disease are largely undefined. To address these questions, human skin single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics data were integrated and compared with mouse skin data. Human skin cell-type annotation was improved using matched spatial transcriptomics data, highlighting the importance of spatial context in cell-type identity, and spatial transcriptomics refined cellular communication inference.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecular characterization of cell types using single-cell transcriptome sequencing is revolutionizing cell biology and enabling new insights into the physiology of human organs. We created a human reference atlas comprising nearly 500,000 cells from 24 different tissues and organs, many from the same donor. This atlas enabled molecular characterization of more than 400 cell types, their distribution across tissues, and tissue-specific variation in gene expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor more than 100 years, the fruit fly has been one of the most studied model organisms. Here, we present a single-cell atlas of the adult fly, Tabula , that includes 580,000 nuclei from 15 individually dissected sexed tissues as well as the entire head and body, annotated to >250 distinct cell types. We provide an in-depth analysis of cell type-related gene signatures and transcription factor markers, as well as sexual dimorphism, across the whole animal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to slow or reverse biological ageing would have major implications for mitigating disease risk and maintaining vitality. Although an increasing number of interventions show promise for rejuvenation, their effectiveness on disparate cell types across the body and the molecular pathways susceptible to rejuvenation remain largely unexplored. Here we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 20 organs to reveal cell-type-specific responses to young and aged blood in heterochronic parabiosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle cell technologies are rapidly generating large amounts of data that enables us to understand biological systems at single-cell resolution. However, joint analysis of datasets generated by independent labs remains challenging due to a lack of consistent terminology to describe cell types. Here, we present OnClass, an algorithm and accompanying software for automatically classifying cells into cell types that are part of the controlled vocabulary that forms the Cell Ontology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAgeing is the single greatest cause of disease and death worldwide, and understanding the associated processes could vastly improve quality of life. Although major categories of ageing damage have been identified-such as altered intercellular communication, loss of proteostasis and eroded mitochondrial function-these deleterious processes interact with extraordinary complexity within and between organs, and a comprehensive, whole-organism analysis of ageing dynamics has been lacking. Here we performed bulk RNA sequencing of 17 organs and plasma proteomics at 10 ages across the lifespan of Mus musculus, and integrated these findings with data from the accompanying Tabula Muris Senis-or 'Mouse Ageing Cell Atlas'-which follows on from the original Tabula Muris.
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