Project description:Palmoplantar skin is structurally and functionally unique, but the transcriptional programs driving this specialization are unknown. Here, we exploit bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing of human palm, sole, and hip skin to describe the distinguishing characteristics of palmoplantar and non-palmoplantar skin while also uncovering previously unappreciated differences between palmar and plantar sites. Our approach reveals downregulation of diverse immunological processes and decreased immune cell populations in palmoplantar skin, highlighting an altered immune environment in the skin of the palms and soles. Further, we identify specific palmoplantar and non-palmoplantar fibroblast populations that appear to orchestrate key differences in cell-cell communication in palm, sole, and hip. Dedicated analysis of epidermal keratinocytes highlights major differences in basal cell fraction among the three sites and validates the presence of a more differentiated, cycling basal population. Finally, our data demonstrate the existence of two spinous keratinocyte populations that constitute two parallel, site-selective epidermal differentiation trajectories. Together, these results provide a deep characterization of the highly adapted palmoplantar skin and contribute new insights into the fundamental biology of human skin.
Project description:Palmoplantar skin is structurally and functionally unique, but the transcriptional programs driving this specialization are unknown. Here, we exploit single-cell RNA-sequencing of human palm, sole, and hip skin to describe the distinguishing characteristics of palmoplantar and non-palmoplantar skin while also uncovering previously unappreciated differences between palmar and plantar sites. Our approach reveals downregulation of diverse immunological processes and decreased immune cell populations in palmoplantar skin, highlighting an altered immune environment in the skin of the palms and soles. Further, we identify specific palmoplantar and non-palmoplantar fibroblast populations that appear to orchestrate key differences in cell-cell communication in palm, sole, and hip. Dedicated analysis of epidermal keratinocytes highlights major differences in basal cell fraction among the three sites and validates the presence of a more differentiated, cycling basal population. Finally, our data demonstrate the existence of two spinous keratinocyte populations that constitute two parallel, site-selective epidermal differentiation trajectories. Together, these results provide a deep characterization of the highly adapted palmoplantar skin and contribute new insights into the fundamental biology of human skin.
Project description:Spatial genome organization is essential to direct fundamental DNA-templated biological processes (e.g. transcription, replication, and repair), but the 3D in situ nanometer-scale structure of accessible cis-regulatory DNA elements within the crowded nuclear environment remains elusive. Here, we combined the recently developed Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with visualization (ATAC-see), PALM super-resolution imaging and lattice light-sheet microscope (a method termed 3D ATAC-PALM) to selectively image and quantitatively analyze key features of the 3D accessible genome in single cells. 3D ATAC-PALM reveals that accessible chromatin are non-homogeneously organized into spatially segregated clusters or accessible chromatin domains (ACDs). To directly link imaging and genomic data, we optimized multiplexed imaging of 3D ATAC-PALM with Oligopaint DNA-FISH, RNA-FISH and protein fluorescence. We found that ACDs colocalize with active chromatin and enclose transcribed genes. By applying these methods to analyze genetically purterbed cells, we demonstrated that genome architectural protein CTCF prevents excessive clustering of accessible chromatin and decompacts ACDs. These results highlight the 3D ATAC-PALM as a useful tool to probe the structure and organizing mechanism of the genome.
Project description:Oil palm breeding and seed development have been hindered due to the male parent's incapacity to produce male inflorescence as a source of pollen under normal conditions. On the other hand, a young oil palm plantation has a low pollination rate due to a lack of male flowers. These are the common problem of sex ratio in the oil palm industry. Nevertheless, the regulation of sex ratio in oil palm plants is a complex mechanism and remains an open question until now. Researchers have previously used complete defoliation to induce male inflorescences, but the biological and molecular mechanisms underlying this morphological change have yet to be discovered. Here, we present an RNA-seq dataset from three early stages of an oil palm inflorescence under normal conditions and complete defoliation stress. This transcriptomic dataset is a valuable resource to improve our understanding of sex determination mechanisms in oil palm inflorescence.