Biology subjects

Tan, S.-J.

Publications and source records attributed to Tan, S.-J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

A single-cell transcriptome atlas during Cashmere goat hair follicle morphogenesis

Cashmere, also known as soft gold, is produced from the secondary hair follicles in Cashmere goats and its therefore of significance to investigate the molecular profiles during Cashmere goat hair follicle development. However, our current understanding of the machinery underlying Cashmere goat hair follicle remains largely unexplored and researches regarding hair follicle development mainly used the mouse as a research model. To provides comprehensively understanding on the cellular heterogeneity and cell lineage cell fate decisions, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 19,705 single cells from induction (embryonic day 60), organogenesis (embryonic day 90) and cytodifferentiation (embryonic day 120) stages of fetus Cashmere goat dorsal skin. Unsupervised clustering analysis identified 16 cell clusters and their corresponding cell types were also unprecedentedly characterized. Based on the lineage inference, we revealed detailed molecular landscape along the dermal and epidermal cell lineage developmental pathways. Notably, by cross-species comparasion of single cell data with murine model, we revelaed conserved programs during dermal condensate fate commitment and the heterochrony development of hair follicle development between mouse and Cashmere goat were also discussed here. Our work here delineate unparalleled molecular profiles of different cell populations during Cashmere goat hair follicle morphogenesis and provide a valuable resource for identifying biomarkers during Cashmere goat hair follicle development.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Dissecting the initiation of female meiosis in the mouse at single-cell resolution

Germ cell meiosis is one of the most finely orchestrated events during gametogenesis with distinct developmental patterns in males and females. However, in mammals, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain not well known. Here, we report detailed transcriptome analyses of cell populations present in the mouse female gonadal ridges (E11.5) and the embryonic ovaries from E12.5 to E14.5 using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA seq). These periods correspond with the initiation and progression of meiosis throughout the first stage of prophase I. We identified 13 transcriptionally distinct cell populations and 7 transcriptionally distinct germ cell subclusters that correspond to mitotic (3 clusters) and meiotic (4 clusters) germ cells. By comparing the signature gene expression pattern of 4 meiotic germ cell clusters, we found that the 4 cell clusters correspond to different cell status en route to meiosis progression, and therefore, our research here characterized detailed transcriptome dynamics during meiotic prophase I. Reconstructing the progression of meiosis along pseudotime, we identified several new genes and molecular pathways with potential critical roles in the mitosis/meiosis transition and early meiotic progression. Last, the heterogeneity within somatic cell populations was also discussed and different cellular states were identified. Our scRNA seq analysis here represents a new important resource for deciphering the molecular pathways driving meiosis initiation and progression in female germ cells and ovarian somatic cells.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Single-cell transcriptome profiling reveals dermal and epithelium cell fate decisions during embryonic hair follicle development

Characterization of the morphological structure during hair follicle development has been well documented, while the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in follicle development remain limited. Here, using unbiased single-cell RNA sequencing, we analyzed 15,086 single cell transcriptome profiles from E13.5 and E16.5 fetal mice, and newborn mouse (postnatal day 0, P0) dorsal skin cells. Based on t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (tSNE) clustering, we identified 14 cell clusters from skin cells and delineated their cell identity gene expression profiles. Pseudotime ordering analysis successfully constructed epithelium/dermal cell lineage differentiation trajectory and revealed sequential activation of key regulons involved during cell fate decisions. Along with this, intercellular communication between different cell populations were inferred based on a priori knowledge of ligand-receptor pairs. Together, our findings here provide a molecular landscape during hair follicle epithelium/dermal cell lineage fate decisions, and more importantly, recapitulate sequential activation of core regulatory transcriptional factors for different cell populations during hair follicle morphogenesis.

developmental biology↗