Cited by 876Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsDevelopmental Biology and Gene RegulationZebrafish Biomedical Research Applications

Single-cell reconstruction of developmental trajectories during zebrafish embryogenesis

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Farrell, Jeffrey A., Wang, Yiqun, Riesenfeld, Samantha J., Shekhar, Karthik, Regev, Aviv, Schier, Alexander F.·2018·Science

Abstract

Mapping the vertebrate developmental landscape: As embryos develop, numerous cell types with distinct functions and morphologies arise from pluripotent cells. Three research groups have used single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze the transcriptional changes accompanying development of vertebrate embryos (see the Perspective by Harland). Wagner et al. sequenced the transcriptomes of more than 90,000 cells throughout zebrafish development to reveal how cells differentiate during axis patterning, germ layer formation, and early organogenesis. Farrell et al. profiled the transcriptomes of tens of thousands of embryonic cells and applied a computational approach to construct a branching tree describing the transcriptional trajectories that lead to 25 distinct zebrafish cell types. The branching tree revealed how cells change their gene expression as they become more and more specialized. Briggs et al. examined whole frog embryos, spanning zygotic genome activation through early organogenesis, to map cell states and differentiation across all cell lineages over time. These data and approaches pave the way for the comprehensive reconstruction of transcriptional trajectories during development. Science , this issue p. 981 , p. eaar3131 , p. eaar5780 ; see also p. 967

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  • Nearly all prior work comparing single-cell datasets first partitions the data discretely before downstream analysis.

    “Almost all previous work quantifying differences between single-cell datasets relies on discrete partitioning of the data before downstream analysis9–16.”
  • CellOracle was applied to systematically perturb TFs across zebrafish development using a 38,731-cell atlas of zebrafish embryogenesis comprising 25 developmental trajectories spanning zygotic genome activation to early somitogenesis.

    “We made use of a 38,731-cell atlas of zebrafish embryogenesis published in a study by Farrell et al.32, comprising 25 developmental trajectories that span zygotic genome activation to early somitogenesis.”
  • CellOracle inferred GRN configurations for the 38 cell types and states identified in the Farrell et al. study, splitting the main branching trajectory into four sub-branches: ectoderm; axial mesoderm; other mesendoderm; and germ layer branching point.

    “We first inferred GRN configurations for the 38 cell types and states identified in the Farrell et al. study32, splitting the main branching trajectory into four sub-branches: ectoderm; axial mesoderm; other mesendoderm; and germ layer branching point (Extended Data Fig. 10a,b).”
  • A 38,606-cell wild-type reference atlas was generated from dissociated WT embryos at 6, 8 and 10 hpf (2 technical replicates per stage) and used Seurat's label transfer function to cluster and label WT reference cells according to Farrell et al. annotations.

    “First, we generated a 38,606-cell wild-type (WT) reference atlas from dissociated WT embryos at 6, 8 and 10 hpf (2 technical replicates per stage) and used Seurat’s label transfer function39 to cluster and label the WT reference cells according to the annotations in Farrell et al.32 (Extended Data Fig. 11).”
  • Existing single-cell data collected after severe developmental disruption do not report the emergence of new transcriptional states in the context of loss of gene function, which suggests extensive canalization even during abnormal development.

    “Nevertheless, existing single-cell data collected after severe developmental disruption do not report the emergence of new transcriptional states in the context of loss of gene function, which suggests extensive canalization even during abnormal development32, supporting the use of CellOracle to accurately simulate TF perturbation effects.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [39]Marchenko VA, Pastur LA, Distribution of eigenvalues in certain sets of random matrices. Mat. Sb. (N.S.) 72 (114), 507– 536 (1967).

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Authors
Farrell, J. A., Wang, Y., Riesenfeld, S. J., Shekhar, K., Regev, A., & Schier, A. F.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Broad Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Farrell, Jeffrey A.
  • Wang, Yiqun
  • Regev, Aviv
  • Schier, Alexander F.
Venue
Science
Published
2018-06
Volume
360
Issue
6392
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2800912249
Cited by
876
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 98 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 133 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 119 · 2021: 107 · 2020: 104 · 2019: 94 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 1 · 2013: 1
FWCI
30.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • edoc (University of Basel) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Human Genome Research Institute
  • Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research
  • Charles A. King Trust
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Klarman Cell Observatory
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Zebrafish Biomedical Research Applications
Keywords
zebrafish embryonic development, developmental trajectories, cell differentiation, single-cell transcriptomics, transcriptional trajectories, cell lineage, germ layer formation, organogenesis, zygotic genome activation, frog embryo, cell types
MeSH terms
Animals, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Transcription, Genetic, Zebrafish, Signal Transduction, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Zebrafish Proteins, Blastula, Embryonic Development, Single-Cell Analysis, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Transcriptome

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