Improved characterization of single-cell RNA-seq libraries with paired-end avidity sequencing

Prevailing poly(dT)-primed 3' single-cell RNA-seq protocols generate barcoded cDNA fragments containing the reverse transcriptase priming site, which is expected to be the poly(A) tail or a genomic adenine homopolymer. Direct sequencing across this priming site was historically difficult because of DNA sequencing errors induced by the homopolymeric primer at the 'barcode' end. Here, we evaluate the capability of "avidity base chemistry" DNA sequencing from Element Biosciences to sequence through this homopolymer accurately, and the impact of the additional cDNA sequence on read alignment and precise quantification of polyadenylation site usage. We find that the Element Aviti instrument sequences through the thymine homopolymer into the subsequent cDNA sequence without detectable loss of accuracy. The resulting paired-end alignments enable direct and independent assignment of reads to polyadenylation sites, which bypasses complexities and limitations of conventional approaches but does not consistently improve read mapping rates compared to single-end alignment. We also characterize low-level artifacts and arrive at an adjusted adapter trimming and alignment workflow that significantly improves the alignment of sequence data from Element and Illumina, particularly in the context of extended read lengths. Our analyses confirm that Element avidity sequencing is an effective alternative to Illumina sequencing for standard single-cell RNA-seq, particularly for polyadenylation site analyses but do not rule out the potential for similar performance from other emerging platforms.