Single cell RNA-seq data analysis of pattern formation, proliferation and growth in drosophila wing imaginal discs

Abstract

Pattern formation proceeds in parallel with proliferation and growth during embryo development. However, the precise mechanisms of how these processes are coordinated are still unknown. The cell differentiation states are often linked with the proliferation competency, especially in pathological contexts such as tumorigenesis. With the development of the single cell sequencing techniques, it is now possible to explore how the pattern formation, proliferation and growth are integrated at individual cell level. Here we use Drosophila wing imaginal discs as an experimental model, a classical model system in pattern formation and growth control, to study the integration of multiple developmental processes. We have conducted single cell RNA sequencing for the wild type and scrib homozygous mutant wing imaginal discs. We have built a spatially-restricted expression gene matrix and projected single cells into wing imaginal disc sub-regions. Importantly, this spatial restricted expression gene matrix can also be used as a benchmark to evaluate the development progress of other samples. We have found that the scrib homozygous mutant wing imaginal discs have shown partial differentiation via this analysis. We have also developed methods to cluster the cells into distinct proliferation and growth states for studying the distribution of different proliferation and growth states of cells in various samples.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology