Spatial reconstruction of immune niches by combining photoactivatable reporter and single-cell RNA-seq

Cellular function is strongly dependent on surrounding cells and environmental factors. Current technologies are limited in characterizing the spatial location and unique gene-programs of cells in less structured and dynamic niches. Here we developed a method (NICHE-seq) that combines photoactivatable fluorescent reporters, two-photon microscopy and single-cell RNA-seq to infer the cellular and molecular composition of niches. We applied NICHE-seq to examine the high-order assembly of immune cell networks. NICHE-seq is highly reproducible in spatial tissue reconstruction, enabling identification of rare niche-specific immune subpopulations and unique gene-programs, including natural killer cells within infected B cell follicles and distinct myeloid states in the marginal zone. This study establishes NICHE-seq as a broadly applicable method for elucidating high-order spatial organization of cell types and their molecular pathways. Overall design: Transcriptional profiling of single cells from the specific immune niches in the lymph node and spleen, generated from deep sequencing of tens of thousands of cells, sequenced in several batches on illumina Nextseq500

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Medaglia C, Giladi A, Stoler-Barak L, De Giovanni M, Salame TM, Biram A, David E, Li H, Iannacone M, Shulman Z, Amit I