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Cited by 187Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsDevelopmental Biology and Gene RegulationPluripotent Stem Cells Research

Single-cell RNA-seq analysis unveils a prevalent epithelial/mesenchymal hybrid state during mouse organogenesis

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Dong, Ji, Hu, Yuqiong, Fan, Xiaoying, Wu, Xinglong, Mao, Yunuo, Hu, Boqiang, Guo, Hongshan, Wen, Lu +1 more·2018·Genome Biology
DOI 10.1186/s13059-018-1416-2PMC PMC5853091
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Organogenesis is crucial for proper organ formation during mammalian embryonic development. However, the similarities and shared features between different organs and the cellular heterogeneity during this process at single-cell resolution remain elusive. RESULTS: We perform single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of 1916 individual cells from eight organs and tissues of E9.5 to E11.5 mouse embryos, namely, the forebrain, hindbrain, skin, heart, somite, lung, liver, and intestine. Based on the regulatory activities rather than the expression patterns, all cells analyzed can be well classified into four major groups with epithelial, mesodermal, hematopoietic, and neuronal identities. For different organs within the same group, the similarities and differences of their features and developmental paths are revealed and reconstructed. CONCLUSIONS: We identify mutual interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal cells and detect epithelial cells with prevalent mesenchymal features during organogenesis, which are similar to the features of intermediate epithelial/mesenchymal cells during tumorigenesis. The comprehensive transcriptome at single-cell resolution profiled in our study paves the way for future mechanistic studies of the gene-regulatory networks governing mammalian organogenesis.

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  • Epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity has been previously identified within hepatic tissues and cell lines.

    “epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity has been previously identified within hepatic tissues and cell lines”

    From Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Early Emergence of Liver Parenchymal and Non-parenchymal Cell Lineages (2020) · cites this paper as Dong et al., 2018

    The Results section on the epithelial/mesenchymal hybrid state reports co-expression of epithelial and mesenchymal markers in developing mouse liver epithelial cells, supporting the hepatic-tissue portion. The paper does not identify this state in hepatic cell lines, and its Discussion says adult liver epithelial cells did not show the same hybrid state. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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References 49 · Cited by 187

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Authors
Dong, J., Hu, Y., Fan, X., Wu, X., Mao, Y., Hu, B., Guo, H., Wen, L., & Tang, F.
Affiliations
Peking University (CN)
Corresponding author
Tang, Fuchou
ORCID
Venue
Genome Biology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-03-14
Volume
19
Issue
1
Pages
31-31
ISSN
  • 1465-6906 (ISSN-L)
  • 1474-760X
DOI
10.1186/s13059-018-1416-2
PMC
PMC5853091
OpenAlex
W2800064031
Cited by
187
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13
FWCI
8.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Genome biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Natural Science Foundation of China (81561138005, 31322037, 81521002)
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 › Molecular Biology › Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
Keywords
organogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, embryonic development, mouse embryo, cellular heterogeneity, epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, transcriptome, forebrain, hindbrain, somites, heart, lung, liver, intestine, skin, hematopoietic cells, neurons, gene regulatory networks
MeSH terms
Animals, Epithelial Cells, Epithelium, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Mesoderm, Neurons, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Gene Expression Profiling, Organogenesis, Mice, Single-Cell Analysis, Transcriptome

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