Defining cell populations with single-cell gene expression profiling: correlations and identification of astrocyte subpopulations.
Journal article, 2011
Single-cell gene expression levels show substantial variations among cells in seemingly homogenous populations. Astrocytes perform many control and regulatory functions in the central nervous system. In contrast to neurons, we have limited knowledge about functional diversity of astrocytes and its molecular basis. To study astrocyte heterogeneity and stem/progenitor cell properties of astrocytes, we used single-cell gene expression profiling in primary mouse astrocytes and dissociated mouse neurosphere cells. The transcript number variability for astrocytes showed lognormal features and revealed that cells in primary cultures to a large extent co-express markers of astrocytes and neural stem/progenitor cells. We show how subpopulations of cells can be identified at single-cell level using unsupervised algorithms and that gene correlations can be used to identify differences in activity of important transcriptional pathways. We identified two subpopulations of astrocytes with distinct gene expression profiles. One had an expression profile very similar to that of neurosphere cells, whereas the other showed characteristics of activated astrocytes in vivo.
Gene Expression Profiling
Mice
Gene Expression
metabolism
analysis
classification
methods
metabolism
Animals
Messenger
RNA
Stem Cells
Cells
Astrocytes
Cultured
Single-Cell Analysis
Up-Regulation
Author
Anders Ståhlberg
University of Gothenburg
Daniel Andersson
University of Gothenburg
Johan Aurelius
University of Gothenburg
Maryam Faiz
University of Gothenburg
Marcela Pekna
University of Gothenburg
Mikael Kubista
Milos Pekny
University of Gothenburg
Nucleic Acids Research
0305-1048 (ISSN) 1362-4962 (eISSN)
Vol. 39 4 e24-Subject Categories
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
DOI
10.1093/nar/gkq1182
PubMed
21112872