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Multicellular organisms contain a variety of structurally and functionally distinct cell types, but the DNA in all the cells originated from the same parent cells. The differences in the cells can be attributed to the differential gene expression. Liver cells, whose functions include detoxification of blood, production of bile to metabolize fats, and synthesis of proteins essential for metabolism, must express a specific set of genes to perform their functions. Gene expression also varies with...
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The gene expression in cells is regulated at different stages: (i) transcription, (ii) RNA processing, (iii) RNA localization, and (iv) translation. Transcriptional regulation is mediated by regulatory proteins such as transcription factors, activators, or repressors—these control gene expression by initiating or inhibiting the transcription of genes. Once a precursor or pre-mRNA is produced, it undergoes post-transcriptional modification, including 5' capping, splicing, and the...
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Gene expression is the process in which DNA directs the synthesis of functional products, that is, proteins. Cells can regulate gene expression at various stages. It allows organisms to generate different cell types and enables cells to adapt to internal and external factors.
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Single-Cell Expression Variability Implies Cell Function.

Daniel Osorio1, Xue Yu2, Yan Zhong3

  • 1Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.

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|December 22, 2019
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Single-cell expression variability (scEV) is functionally important for cell-type specific functions. This study identifies highly variable genes (HVGs) in various cell types, revealing their crucial roles in cellular processes.

Keywords:
airway epithelial cellcell-to-cell variationdermal fibroblastinduced pluripotent stem celllymphoblastoid cell linescRNA-seqsingle-cell RNA sequencingsingle-cell expression variability

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Area of Science:

  • Genomics
  • Cell Biology
  • Bioinformatics

Background:

  • Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data reveals cell-to-cell variability in gene expression (scEV).
  • The functional significance of scEV in multicellular organisms remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional importance of scEV across different human cell types.
  • To determine if scEV contributes to cell type-specific functions.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of scRNA-seq datasets from lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), lung airway epithelial cells (LAECs), and dermal fibroblasts (DFs).
  • Identification of highly variable genes (HVGs) after correcting for mean-variance dependency.
  • Functional enrichment analysis of identified HVGs.

Main Results:

  • Identified 465, 466, and 364 HVGs in LCLs, LAECs, and DFs, respectively.
  • HVGs were significantly enriched for functions relevant to their respective cell types (e.g., cytokine signaling in LCLs, collagen formation in LAECs, keratinization in DFs).
  • Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) showed negligible scEV and no significant functional enrichment in HVGs.

Conclusions:

  • Results support the 'variation is function' hypothesis, indicating scEV is essential for cell type-specific functions.
  • Quantifying and characterizing scEV is crucial for understanding normal and pathological cellular processes.