Einzelzellbiologie

Abstrakt

Single-Cell Analysis: From Technology to Biology and Medicine

Xinghua pan

Single-cell analysis ushers in a new era that enables “omics” analyses, particularly genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and proteomics at the single-cell level. It enables the identification of small subpopulations of cells that may play a critical role in a biological process. It provides a highly sensitive tool to elucidate specific molecular mechanisms and pathways and to reveal the nature of cellular heterogeneity. It also facilitates the clinical investigation of patients when rare or single cells are available for analysis, such as in noninvasive prenatal diagnosis and genetic screening for in vitro fertilization. Within a few years, single-cell analysis, particularly whole genome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing, will become robust and widely accessible, although it is not yet routine practice. Here, with a focus on single-cell RNA sequencing, an overview of the discipline, advances and prospects of single-cell analysis and its applications in biology and medicine is provided.