Open AccessDecoding nervous system by single‐cell RNA sequencing
Author(s) -
Hu Ganlu,
Wang GuangZhong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
quantitative biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.707
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2095-4697
pISSN - 2095-4689
DOI - 10.1007/s40484-017-0116-3
Subject(s) - neurogenesis , neuroscience , rna , cell type , biology , computational biology , cell , nervous system , brain cell , computer science , genetics , gene
Background Mammalian brain are composed of a large number of specialized cell types with diverse molecular composition, functions and differentiation potentials. The application of recently developed single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) technology in this filed has provided us new insights about this sophisticated system, deepened our understanding of the cell type diversity and led to the discovery of novel cell types. Results Here we review recent progresses of applying this technology on studying brain cell heterogeneity, adult neurogenesis as well as brain tumors, then we discuss some current limitations and future directions of using scRNA‐seq on the investagation of nervous system. Conclusions We believe the application of single‐cell RNA sequencing in neuroscience will accelerate the progress of big brain projects.