The human platelet: strong transcriptome correlations among individuals associate weakly with the platelet proteome

Area of Science:

• Hematology
• Molecular Biology
• Genomics

Background:

• The anucleate nature of platelets makes understanding their transcriptome challenging.
• Previous studies lacked clarity on platelet transcriptome correlation across donors and platforms.
• The relationship between platelet transcriptome and proteome was not well-defined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the correlation of platelet transcriptomes among different donors and RNA profiling platforms.
• To investigate the relationship between platelet transcriptome and proteome.
• To establish a reference platelet mRNA-ome for future studies.

Main Methods:

• Profiling platelet transcriptomes from 10 healthy males using RNA sequencing and Affymetrix microarray.
• Comparing mRNA signatures with publicly available quantitative platelet proteome data.
• Analyzing correlations between mRNA and protein abundances.

Main Results:

• High correlation of platelet mRNA transcripts across individuals, independent of race or technology.
• Non-coding RNAs also showed high inter-individual correlations, with pseudogenes differing by race.
• Most identified platelet proteins had detectable mRNA, but many mRNAs lacked protein representation.
• A weak correlation (~0.3) was observed between corresponding mRNA and protein abundances.

Conclusions:

• Platelet transcriptomes are highly correlated across individuals and platforms.
• A weak connection exists between the platelet transcriptome and proteome.
• A reference platelet mRNA-ome is feasible for future human health and disease studies.