Light-Seq technology for barcoding and deep-sequencing selected cell populations in tissues

Beneath the microscope, researchers typically observe completely different cell sorts organizing themselves in peculiar patterns inside tissues, or generally a uncommon cell kind that stands out by occupying a singular place, exhibiting an uncommon form, or expressing a particular biomarker molecule. To find out the deeper that means of their observations, they’ve developed approaches to additionally entry cells’ gene expression patterns (transcriptomes) by analyzing the gene-derived RNA molecules current inside them, which they’ll match with cells’ shapes, spatial positions, and molecular biomarkers.

Nevertheless, these “spatial transcriptomics” approaches nonetheless solely seize a fraction of a cell’s complete RNA molecules, and can’t ship the depth and high quality of research offered by single-cell sequencing strategies, which had been developed to analyze the transcriptomes of particular person cells remoted from tissues or biofluids by way of next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods. Nor do they permit researchers to solely dwelling in on particular cells primarily based on their location in a tissue, which might tremendously facilitate the pursuit of disjointed cell populations, or uncommon, difficult-to-isolate cells like uncommon mind cells with distinctive features, or immune cells that invade tumors. As well as, as a result of the unique tissue setting is disrupted, many spatial transcriptomics and all single-cell sequencing strategies stop researchers from revisiting their samples to carry out follow-up evaluation, and they’re pricey as a result of they require specialised devices or reagents.

A brand new advance made on the Wyss Institute for Biologically Impressed Engineering at Harvard College now overcomes these limitations with a DNA nanotechnology-driven technique referred to as “Mild-Seq.” Mild-Seq permits researchers to “geotag” the total repertoire of RNA sequences with distinctive DNA barcodes unique to a couple cells of curiosity. These goal cells are chosen utilizing mild beneath a microscope by way of a quick and efficient photocrosslinking course of.

With the assistance of a brand new DNA nanotechnology, the barcoded RNA sequences are then translated into coherent DNA strands, which may then be collected from the tissue pattern and recognized utilizing NGS. The Mild-Seq course of might be repeated with completely different barcodes for various cell populations inside the identical pattern, which is left intact for follow-up evaluation. With a efficiency corresponding to single-cell sequencing strategies, it considerably broadens the depth and scope of investigations doable on a tissue pattern. The strategy is revealed in Nature Strategies .

“Mild-Seq’s distinctive mixture of options fills an unmet want: the flexibility to carry out imaging-informed, spatially prescribed, deep-sequencing evaluation of onerous, if not impossible-to-isolate cell populations or uncommon cell sorts in preserved tissues, with one-to-one correspondence of their extremely refined gene expression state with spatial, morphological, and probably disease-relevant options,” stated Peng Yin, Ph.D., one among 4 corresponding authors and a Core College member on the Wyss Institute, the place his group developed Mild-Seq. “It thus has potential to fast-forward the organic discovery course of in numerous biomedical analysis areas.” Yin can be a Professor of Techniques Biology at Harvard Medical Faculty (HMS).

From barcoding in situ to sequencing ex situ

The Mild-Seq challenge was spearheaded by Jocelyn (Josie) Kishi, Ph.D., Sinem Saka, Ph.D., and Ninning Liu, Ph.D. in Yin’s group on the Wyss, and Emma West, Ph.D. in Constance Cepko’s lab at HMS. Beforehand, Kishi and Saka had developed SABER-FISH as a spatial transcriptomics technique for imaging gene expression instantly in intact tissues (in situ). “With SABER-FISH, we nonetheless had been orders of magnitude away from capturing cells’ full gene expression applications, with many hundreds of various RNA molecules per cell. RNA molecules are simply too densely packed to be captured of their entirety utilizing current imaging methods,” stated co-first and co-corresponding creator Kishi. “Mild-Seq solves this downside by combining high-resolution barcode labeling with full-transcriptome sequencing by way of NGS, giving us one of the best of each worlds and extra key benefits.” On the time of the research, Kishi was a Wyss Know-how Improvement Fellow on Yin’s workforce, and is now pursuing a path towards commercializing Mild-Seq along with a few of her co-authors.

“To particularly sequence the cells in custom-selected areas of intact tissue samples, we developed a brand new method for photocrosslinking DNA barcodes to copies of RNA molecules, and a DNA nanotechnology-powered process that makes them and their hooked up RNA sequences readable by NGS,” stated co-first creator Liu, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Yin’s group who beforehand co-developed a parallelized DNA barcoding platform for a super-resolution imaging technique referred to as “Motion-PAINT” that additionally turned one of many core elements of Mild-Seq.

First, DNA primers “base-pair” with RNA molecules in cells, and are prolonged to create copies of the RNA sequences referred to as complementary DNA sequences (cDNAs). Then, DNA barcode strands containing an ultrafast photocrosslinker nucleotide are in flip base-paired to the cDNAs within the cells. These turn out to be completely linked collectively when a goal cell is lit up beneath the microscope by means of a stencil-like optical gadget that retains different, non-target cells within the microscopic area at midnight and thus spares them from the photocrosslinking response. After washing the barcoded DNA sequences out of cells that weren’t completely linked in situ, the process might be repeated with completely different barcodes and lightweight patterns to label extra areas of curiosity.

“To have the ability to combine this barcoding workflow with NGS, we engineered a brand new stitching response that’s primarily based on DNA nanotechnology. This innovation permits us to transform our barcoded cDNAs into contiguous readout sequences. We are able to then extract the whole assortment of barcode-bearing cDNA sequences from the pattern, and analyze them with normal NGS methods,” defined Saka, one of many research’s corresponding authors who’s presently a Group Chief on the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. “In the end, every barcode traces the total transcriptome readout again to the pre-selected cells within the tissue pattern, which stays intact for subsequent analyses. This gives us the distinctive likelihood to revisit the very same cells after sequencing for validation or additional exploration.”

Eying advanced tissues and uncommon cells

Following the primary validation of Mild-Seq in cultured cells, Yin’s workforce wished to use it to a posh tissue and partnered up with the group of Constance Cepko, Ph.D. at HMS. Cepko is without doubt one of the research’s corresponding authors and the Bullard Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience within the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, and investigates the event of the retina as a mannequin of the nervous system. Kishi, Saka, and Liu joined forces with West in Cepko’s group to use Mild-Seq to cross-sections of the mouse retina and profile three main layers with completely different features. The researchers reached a sequence protection corresponding to single-cell sequencing strategies, and located that hundreds of RNAs had been enriched between the retina’s three main layers. In addition they confirmed that after sequence extraction, the tissue samples remained intact and could possibly be additional imaged for proteins and different biomolecules.

“Taking Mild-Seq to the acute, we had been capable of isolate the total transcriptome of a really uncommon cell kind, often known as ‘dopaminergic amacrine cells’ (DACs), which is extraordinarily onerous to isolate due to its intricate connections to different cells within the retina, by retrieving merely 4 to eight individually barcoded cells per cross-section,” stated West. DACs are concerned in regulating the attention’s circadian rhythm by fine-tuning visible notion to completely different mild exposures in the course of the day-night cycle. “Mild-Seq additionally picked up RNAs that had been particularly expressed in DACs at low ranges, in addition to dozens of DAC-specific biomarker RNAs that, to our data, had not been described earlier than, which opens new alternatives to check this uncommon cell kind,” added West, who on the time of the research was a graduate scholar after which Postdoctoral Fellow with Cepko, and has now joined Kishi in her Mild-Seq commercialization effort.

Opening the sphere of spatial transcriptomics as much as NGS additionally provides data on the extent of a single RNA species. “Our sequencing knowledge clearly confirmed that Mild-Seq can decide pure variations within the construction of RNAs. Going ahead, we’re very concerned about utilizing Mild-Seq to raised perceive the interaction between the immune system, disease-propagating cells, and completely different therapeutic methods corresponding to gene and cell remedy,” stated Kishi.

The Mild-Seq expertise developed in Peng Yin’s group within the Wyss Institute’s Molecular Robotics Initiative but once more exhibits how pursuing a very unconventional method and leveraging artificial biology can result in a disruptive expertise with nice potential for advancing each basic analysis and medical drugs.”

Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Wyss Founding Director

Donald Ingber can be the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical Faculty and Boston Kids’s Hospital, and the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioinspired Engineering on the Harvard John A. Paulson Faculty of Engineering and Utilized Sciences.