Single Cell Expression Data Offers Detailed Molecular Understanding Of Embryonic Development

Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have recently generated significant single cell expression data crucial for a detailed molecular understanding of mammalian development from fertilsation to embryo implantation, a process known as the preimplantation period. The knowledge gained has a direct impact on clinical applications in the areas of regenerative medicine and assisted reproduction. This study is the first of its kind to apply single cell gene expression analysis of many genes to hundreds of cells in a developmental system. Using the Fluidigm BioMark microfluidic technology and the mouse preimplantation embryo as a model, the scientists were able to study the expression of 48 genes from individual cells and applied this to analyse over 600 individual cells from the 1-cell to the 64-cell stage of preimplantation development. This high throughput single cell research methodology provides the scientists with the ability to detect dynamic patterns in cellular behaviour, which is unprecedented in the field. Significantly, the findings of the study resolves some of the arguments pertaining to cellular differentiation events and places fibroblast growth factor signalling as the primary event in the later cell fate decisions.

Executive Director at the GIS, a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Professor Edison Liu, said: “This remarkable work by Guoji Guo, Mikael Huss, Paul Robson and colleagues uses new microgenomic technologies to map, over time, how a single cell decides to permanently become different parts of an embryo. Within one division, cells commit to specific developmental lineages by expressing defined sets of genes. This research now opens the possibility of assessing the genetic triggers for fate determination of individual cells in developmental time. On another level, this work highlights the importance of new microtechnologies in advancing the understanding of early embryonic events."