Single-Cell Transcriptome Profiling of Protozoan and Metazoan Parasites

Christopher Nötzel; Asaf Poran; Björn F C Kafsack

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2018.04.009

Single-Cell Transcriptome Profiling of Protozoan and Metazoan Parasites

Trends Parasitol. 2018 Sep;34(9):731-734. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2018.04.009. Epub 2018 May 26.

Authors

Christopher Nötzel¹, Asaf Poran², Björn F C Kafsack³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA; Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA; These authors made equal contributions.
² Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA; Caryl and Israel Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA; Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA; These authors made equal contributions.
³ Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 29807759
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2018.04.009

Abstract

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) technologies are changing the way we study populations of cells by allowing for an unbiased characterization of the composition of these populations. This Forum article highlights outstanding questions in parasitology that could benefit from scRNAseq and provides guiding thoughts for planning such experiments.

Keywords: bet-hedging strategies; cell fate decisions; gene expression analysis; host–parasite interaction; parasite development; single-cell transcriptomics.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Eukaryota / genetics
Eukaryota / metabolism
Parasitology / methods*
Parasitology / trends
Single-Cell Analysis*
Transcriptome*