A single-cell RNA-seq analysis of molecular characterization of hypothalamic progenitor cells

To define molecular and cellular heterogeneity of progenitor cells in the developing mammalian hypothalamus, single cell RNA-sequencing (10x Genomics Chromium) was performed in embryonic human hypothalamus (GW10). We identified four major cell populations, including hypothalamic progenitor cells (HPCs), Glutamatergic neuronal cells, GABAergic neuronal cells and neuropeptidergic neurons. To further reveal the molecular characteristics of HPCs, we analyzed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of 6 HPC clusters. We showed remarkably diverse transcriptional features within progenitor subtypes, characterized by the combinatorial or specific expression pattern of classic progenitor markers (VIM, NES, FABP7 and SLC1A3), proneural transcription factors (ASCL1, NHLH2 and DLX1) and new neural progenitors enriched candidates such as FAM107A, TTYH1 and HMGA2. The candidates were validated with immunostaining. In summary, our results demonstrated the molecular diversity of neural progenitor in mammalian hypothalamus. Hypothalamus of human were dissected for single-cell RNA-seq (10x Genomics Chromium)