Single-cell RNA sequencing of hemocytes in the ascidian Ciona robusta

The ascidian Ciona robusta is one of the closest living relatives of vertebrates and occupies an evolutionarily important position. Hemocytes of Ciona have been studied to gain insights into the evolution of the immune system. Previous studies have reported the expression of many immune-related and tunicate-specific genes in these hemocytes. In this project, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to identify marker genes of hemocyte subpopulations, which have historically been classified into 7-8 groups based on morphology.

强健海鞘（Ciona robusta）属于海鞘（ascidian）类群，是脊椎动物现存亲缘关系最近的物种之一，在演化史上占据关键地位。此前已有研究针对该物种的血细胞（hemocytes）展开探索，以期解析免疫系统的演化机制。既往研究已报道，这类血细胞中存在大量免疫相关基因及被囊动物（tunicate）特异性基因的表达。本项目采用单细胞RNA测序（single-cell RNA sequencing, scRNA-seq）技术，对传统上基于形态学特征被划分为7至8个类群的血细胞亚群的标记基因（marker genes）进行鉴定。