Project description:Transcriptome analysis during embryogenesis usually requires pooling of embryos to obtain sufficient RNA. Hence, the measured levels of gene-expression represent the average mRNA levels of pooled samples and the biological variation among individuals is lost for inclusion into statistical models used to analyze transcriptome data. This can irreversibly reduce the robustness, resolution and expressiveness of the experiment. Therefore, we developed a robust method to isolate abundant high-quality RNA from individual embryos to perform single embryo transcriptome analyses using the zebrafish as a model.
Project description:Neurons transport a variety of mRNAs to their dendritic and axonal compartments where they are locally translated. These processes are essential for the functional specialization of these cellular structures. To explore both the intercellular variability and intracellular dynamics of neuronal compartments we characterized the somatic and dendritic transcriptome of single neurons. We used Laser Capture Microdissection to isolate the dendrites and soma of individual neurons from primary hippocampal cultures, followed by scRNA-seq to profile the mRNA content of these compartments. In total, we sequence 276 dendrites and their respective somata, 227 somata without the dendrites, and 16 negative controls (LCM cuts of areas without cellular content). We observed less cell-type specific differences in the dendritic transcriptome than in the somatic transcriptome. However, the dendritic localization of a subset of mRNAs does vary in a cell-type specific manner. Furthermore, we observed that the relation between somatic and dendritic abundance varies according to gene and is strongly influenced by cellular function. This study provides a framework for the regulation of the dendritic transcriptome within and across individual neurons.