A Single Cell RNA Sequencing Resource for Early Sea Urchin Development

Overview

Journal Development

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Aug 21

PMID 32816969

Citations 20

Authors

Stephany Foster

Nathalie Oulhen

Gary Wessel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Identifying cell states during development from their mRNA profiles provides insight into their gene regulatory network. Here, we leverage the sea urchin embryo for its well-established gene regulatory network to interrogate the embryo using single cell RNA sequencing. We tested eight developmental stages in , from the eight-cell stage to late in gastrulation. We used these datasets to parse out 22 major cell states of the embryo, focusing on key transition stages for cell type specification of each germ layer. Subclustering of these major embryonic domains revealed over 50 cell states with distinct transcript profiles. Furthermore, we identified the transcript profile of two cell states expressing germ cell factors, one we conclude represents the primordial germ cells and the other state is transiently present during gastrulation. We hypothesize that these cells of the Veg2 tier of the early embryo represent a lineage that converts to the germ line when the primordial germ cells are deleted. This broad resource will hopefully enable the community to identify other cell states and genes of interest to expose the underpinning of developmental mechanisms.

Citing Articles

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