美国密歇根大学医学院Jun Hee Lee团队开发出一种空间转录组新技术。相关论文于2021年6月10日在线发表在《细胞》杂志上。

研究人员报告了Seq-Scope，这是一种分辨率与光学显微镜相当的空间条形码技术。Seq-Scope基于使用Illumina测序平台的随机条形码单分子寡核苷酸的固相扩增。用空间坐标注释的结果簇被处理，从而暴露RNA捕获部分。这些捕获RNA的条形码簇定义了Seq-Scope的像素，它们之间的距离约为0.5-0.8 μm。

从组织切片，Seq-Scope在多个组织学尺度上可视化空间转录组异质性，包括根据门静脉中央（肝脏）、隐窝表面（结肠）和炎症纤维化（肝损伤）轴的组织分区，细胞成分包括单细胞类型和亚型，以及细胞核和细胞质的亚细胞结构。Seq-Scope快速、直接、精确且易于实施，能够使广大生物医学研究人员可以进行空间单细胞分析。

据悉，空间条形码技术有可能揭示转录组学特征的组织学细节。然而，它们目前受到低分辨率的限制。

附：英文原文

Title: Microscopic examination of spatial transcriptome using Seq-Scope

Author: Chun-Seok Cho, Jingyue Xi, Yichen Si, Sung-Rye Park, Jer-En Hsu, Myungjin Kim, Goo Jun, Hyun Min Kang, Jun Hee Lee

Issue&Volume: 2021-06-10

Abstract: Spatial barcoding technologies have the potential to reveal histological details oftranscriptomic profiles; however, they are currently limited by their low resolution.Here, we report Seq-Scope, a spatial barcoding technology with a resolution comparableto an optical microscope. Seq-Scope is based on a solid-phase amplification of randomlybarcoded single-molecule oligonucleotides using an Illumina sequencing platform. Theresulting clusters annotated with spatial coordinates are processed to expose RNA-capturemoiety. These RNA-capturing barcoded clusters define the pixels of Seq-Scope thatare ～0.5–0.8 μm apart from each other. From tissue sections, Seq-Scope visualizesspatial transcriptome heterogeneity at multiple histological scales, including tissuezonation according to the portal-central (liver), crypt-surface (colon) and inflammation-fibrosis(injured liver) axes, cellular components including single-cell types and subtypes,and subcellular architectures of nucleus and cytoplasm. Seq-Scope is quick, straightforward,precise, and easy-to-implement and makes spatial single-cell analysis accessible toa wide group of biomedical researchers.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.010

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00627-9