Comprehensive analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing data from healthy human marrow hematopoietic cells

Single cell methodology enables detection and quantification of transcriptional changes and unravelling dynamic aspects of the transcriptional heterogeneity not accessible using bulk sequencing approaches. We have applied single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) to fresh human bone marrow CD34⁺ cells and profiled 391 single hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) from healthy donors to characterize lineage- and stage-specific transcription during hematopoiesis.

Cells clustered into six distinct groups, which could be assigned to known HSPC subpopulations based on lineage specific genes. Reconstruction of differentiation trajectories in single cells revealed four committed lineages derived from HSCs, as well as dynamic expression changes underlying cell fate during early erythroid-megakaryocytic, lymphoid, and granulocyte-monocyte differentiation. A similar non-hierarchical pattern of hematopoiesis could be derived from analysis of published single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (scATAC-seq), consistent with a sequential relationship between chromatin dynamics and regulation of gene expression during lineage commitment (first, altered chromatin conformation, then mRNA transcription). Computationally, we have reconstructed molecular trajectories connecting HSCs directly to four hematopoietic lineages. Integration of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) expression from the same cells demonstrated mRNA transcriptome, lncRNA, and the epigenome were highly homologous in their pattern of gene activation and suppression during hematopoietic cell differentiation.