Combined mRNA and protein single cell analysis in a dynamic cellular system

• Combined measurements of mRNA and protein expression in single cells enables in-depth analysis of cellular states. We present single-cell protein and RNA co-profiling (SPARC), an approach to – for the first time – simultaneously measure global mRNA and large sets of intracellular protein in individual cells. Using SPARC, we show that mRNA expression fails to accurately reflect protein abundance at the time of measurement in human embryonic stem cells, although the direction of mRNA and protein expression changes is in agreement during cellular differentiation. Moreover, protein levels of transcription factors better predict their downstream effects than do their corresponding transcripts. We further show that changes of the balance between protein and mRNA expression levels can be applied to infer expression kinetic trajectories, predicting future states of individual cells. Finally, we highlight that protein expression variation is overall lower than mRNA variation, but relative variation of gene expression at the protein level does not reflect the mRNA level. Overall, our results demonstrate that mRNA and protein measurements in single cells provide different and complementary information regarding cell states. Accordingly, SPARC offers valuable insights into gene expression programs of single cells.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Bioinformatik och systembiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Multi-omics

Single-cell profiling

Microfluidics

Transcriptomics

Proteomics

Single-cell RNA sequencing

molekylär biovetenskap

Molecular Bioscience

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