德国欧洲分子生物学研究所Detlev Arendt等研究人员合作绘制出沙蚕的全身表达图谱。这一研究成果于2021年8月10日在线发表在国际学术期刊《细胞》上。

为了系统地探索细胞类型特异性基因表达和形态学之间的联系，研究人员绘制了沙蚕（Platynereis dumerilii）的全身表达图谱。细胞和细胞核的自动分割确定了主要的细胞类别，并在基因激活、染色质拓扑和核大小之间建立了联系。根据基因表达对分割的细胞进行聚类，研究人员揭示了空间上一致的组织。在大脑中，基因定义的神经元组与具有连贯性投射的神经节核相匹配。除了中间神经元，研究人员还在沙蚕的蘑菇体中发现了感觉神经分泌细胞，因此它们可作为感觉器官。此外，通过分子解剖学，它们还与脊椎动物的端脑相似。

据悉，动物的身体是由具有独特表达程序的细胞类型组成的，这些表达程序实现了它们独特的位置、形状、结构和功能。基于这些特性，细胞类型组合成特定的组织和器官。

附：英文原文

Title: Whole-body integration of gene expression and single-cell morphology

Author: Hernando M. Vergara, Constantin Pape, Kimberly I. Meechan, Valentyna Zinchenko, Christel Genoud, Adrian A. Wanner, Kevin Nzumbi Mutemi, Benjamin Titze, Rachel M. Templin, Paola Y. Bertucci, Oleg Simakov, Wiebke Dürichen, Pedro Machado, Emily L. Savage, Lothar Schermelleh, Yannick Schwab, Rainer W. Friedrich, Anna Kreshuk, Christian Tischer, Detlev Arendt

Issue&Volume: 2021-08-10

Abstract: Animal bodies are composed of cell types with unique expression programs that implementtheir distinct locations, shapes, structures, and functions. Based on these properties,cell types assemble into specific tissues and organs. To systematically explore thelink between cell-type-specific gene expression and morphology, we registered an expressionatlas to a whole-body electron microscopy volume of the nereid Platynereis dumerilii. Automated segmentation of cells and nuclei identifies major cell classes and establishesa link between gene activation, chromatin topography, and nuclear size. Clusteringof segmented cells according to gene expression reveals spatially coherent tissues.In the brain, genetically defined groups of neurons match ganglionic nuclei with coherentprojections. Besides interneurons, we uncover sensory-neurosecretory cells in thenereid mushroom bodies, which thus qualify as sensory organs. They furthermore resemblethe vertebrate telencephalon by molecular anatomy. 

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.017

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00876-X