Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed cell heterogeneity in sagittal suture mesenchyme

The formation and homeostatic maintenance of cranial sutures rely on cellular activities within the suture mesenchyme. Mesenchymal stem cells in this niche are characterized by self-renewal capacity and low proliferative activity. However, how they rapidly and extensively contribute to suture formation during early development remains insufficiently explored. In this study, we combined 10x Genomics and Smart-seq3 single-cell transcriptomic sequencing to analyze cellular subpopulations within the sagittal suture mesenchyme. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of sagittal suture dissected from PN7 wildtype C57BL/6J mice or Gli1-CreERT2; tdTomato mice with tamoxifen induction.