美国纽约大学Kenneth D. Birnbaum研究组发现，泛草类转录组揭示农作物的细胞分化模式。该项研究成果于2023年5月10日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。
研究人员比较了三个草种——玉米、高粱和狗尾草的根细胞转录组。结果表明，单细胞和单核RNA测序为双子叶植物和单子叶植物的细胞特性提供了互补的读数，因此有必要进行综合分析。细胞类型在各物种间进行了映射，以确定强大的、正交的标记基因。细胞比较分析表明，一些细胞类型的转录组比其他细胞类型的转录组分化得更快，这部分是由于从其他细胞类型招募的基因模块驱动的。数据还显示，最近的全基因组复制提供了丰富的新的、高度定位的基因表达域，有利于快速发展的细胞类型。
总的来说，逐个细胞的比较分析显示了精细的细胞分析如何从泛转录组中提取保守的模块，并提供关于介导农作物关键功能的细胞演化的洞察力。
据悉，草类中的不同植物种类是平行的驯化目标，产生了具有不同进化历史和性状的作物。区分这些物种的关键性状是由专门的细胞类型所介导的。
附：英文原文
Title: A pan-grass transcriptome reveals patterns of cellular divergence in crops
Author: Guillotin, Bruno, Rahni, Ramin, Passalacqua, Michael, Mohammed, Mohammed Ateequr, Xu, Xiaosa, Raju, Sunil Kenchanmane, Ramrez, Carlos Ortiz, Jackson, David, Groen, Simon C., Gillis, Jesse, Birnbaum, Kenneth D.
Issue&Volume: 2023-05-10
Abstract: Different plant species within the grasses were parallel targets of domestication, giving rise to crops with distinct evolutionary histories and traits1. Key traits that distinguish these species are mediated by specialized cell types2. Here we compare the transcriptomes of root cells in three grass species—Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor and Setaria viridis. We show that single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing provide complementary readouts of cell identity in dicots and monocots, warranting a combined analysis. Cell types were mapped across species to identify robust, orthologous marker genes. The comparative cellular analysis shows that the transcriptomes of some cell types diverged more rapidly than those of others—driven, in part, by recruitment of gene modules from other cell types. The data also show that a recent whole-genome duplication provides a rich source of new, highly localized gene expression domains that favour fast-evolving cell types. Together, the cell-by-cell comparative analysis shows how fine-scale cellular profiling can extract conserved modules from a pan transcriptome and provide insight on the evolution of cells that mediate key functions in crops.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06053-0
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06053-0
Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html
本期文章：《自然》：Online/在线发表
