Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 4, 2025
Single Cell Transcriptional Profiling of Adult Mouse Cardiomyocytes
Published on: December 28, 2011
Concordant and Heterogeneity of Single-Cell Transcriptome in Cardiac Development of Human and Mouse
Mengyue Shang1,2,3, Yi Hu1,2,3, Huaming Cao4
1Key Laboratory of Arrhythmias, Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Insights
This study identifies cardiac cell types in embryonic human and mouse hearts using single-cell transcriptomics. It maps developmental similarities, aiding research into human heart development and disease models.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Normal heart function relies on intricate cell lineage interactions during development.
- Understanding species-specific differences in mammalian heart development remains a challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and compare cardiac cell types and developmental trajectories between human and mouse embryonic hearts.
- To determine species-shared and species-specific marker genes for cardiac cell lineages.
- To establish developmental stage similarities for key cardiac cell types.
Main Methods:
- Single-cell transcriptome analysis of embryonic human and mouse hearts.
- Identification of major cardiac cell types: cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and immune cells.
- Construction of developmental trajectories and comparative gene expression analysis.
Main Results:
- Identified cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and immune cells in both species.
- Determined species-shared and species-specific marker genes.
- Established developmental stage equivalencies: mouse e9.5/e10.5 CMs resemble human 7W/9W CMs; mouse e10.5/e13.5/e14.5 FBs resemble human 6W/7W/9W FBs; mouse e9.5 ECs/FBs resemble human 10W ECs/FBs.
Conclusions:
- Provides a valuable resource for understanding cardiac cell types and developmental markers across species.
- Facilitates the use of mouse models for studying human cardiac physiology and diseases.
- Highlights conserved and divergent gene expression patterns crucial for heart development.
Abstract:
Normal heart development is vital for maintaining its function, and the development process is involved in complex interactions between different cell lineages. How mammalian hearts develop differently is still not fully understood. In this study, we identified several major types of cardiac cells, including cardiomyocytes (CMs), fibroblasts (FBs), endothelial cells (ECs), ECs/FBs, epicardial cells (EPs), and immune cells (macrophage/monocyte cluster, MACs/MONOs), based on single-cell transcriptome data from embryonic hearts of both human and mouse. Then, species-shared and species-specific marker genes were determined in the same cell type between the two species, and the genes with consistent and different expression patterns were also selected by constructing the developmental trajectories. Through a comparison of the development stage similarity of CMs, FBs, and ECs/FBs between humans and mice, it is revealed that CMs at e9.5 and e10.5 of mice are most similar to those of humans at 7 W and 9 W, respectively. Mouse FBs at e10.5, e13.5, and e14.5 are correspondingly more like the same human cells at 6, 7, and 9 W. Moreover, the e9.5-ECs/FBs of mice are most similar to that of humans at 10W. These results provide a resource for understudying cardiac cell types and the crucial markers able to trace developmental trajectories among the species, which is beneficial for finding suitable mouse models to detect human cardiac physiology and related diseases.
