Project description:Transcriptional response to dissociation is known to cause artefacts in single cell data sets. We used 4sU to label newly made transcripts during dissociation in order to to later remove them from the data set
Project description:Transcriptional response to dissociation is known to cause artefacts in single cell data sets. We used 4sU to label newly made transcripts during dissociation in order to to later remove them from the data set
Project description:Transcriptional response to dissociation is known to cause artefacts in single cell data sets. We used 4sU to label newly made transcripts during dissociation in order to to later remove them from the data set
Project description:Single-neuron gene expression studies may be especially important for understanding nervous system structure and function because of the neuron-specific functionality and plasticity that defines functional neural circuits. Cellular dissociation is a prerequisite technical manipulation for single-cell and single cell-population studies, but the extent to which the cellular dissociation process affects neural gene expression has not been determined. This information is necessary for interpreting the results of experimental manipulations that affect neural function such as learning and memory. The goal of this research was to determine the impact of chemical cell dissociation on brain transcriptomes. We compared gene expression of microdissected samples from the dentate gyrus (DG), CA3, and CA1 subfields of the mouse hippocampus either prepared by a standard tissue homogenization protocol or subjected to a chemical cellular dissociation procedure. We report that compared to homogenization, chemical cellular dissociation alters about 350 genes or 2% of the hippocampal transcriptome. While only a few genes canonically implicated in long-term potentiation (LTP) and fear memory change expression levels in response to the dissociation procedure, these data indicate that sample preparation can affect gene expression profiles, which might confound interpretation of results depending on the research question. This study is important for the investigation of any complex tissues as research effort moves from subfield level analysis to single cell analysis of gene expression.
Project description:Using a novel method for metabolic labelling of RNA called iTag RNA we isolate hepatocytes' and kidney proximal epithelial cells' transcriptional response to a dietary challenge and identify multiple hepatocyte-secreted small ccfRNAs in plasma, and transfer of these hepatic derived ccfRNAs to VsWAT.