Profiling Candidate Stem Cells from Ciona robusta Enriched by ALDH

In Ciona robusta, a non-model chordate lacking established stem cell markers, we aimed to enrich for candidate stem cell (cStem) population using ALDH, an enzymatic marker broadly associated with stemness in both mammalian systems. Using FACS, we sorted three different cell populations based on size and granularity of cells expressing increased ALDH activity; A population of ALDH positive cells (ALDH), a population of low ALDH activity/high granularity (Control) and a population of a high ALDH activity/low granularity (cStem). To test for enrichment in stem cells markers in our cStem sample in relation to the ALDH and Control samples, we sorted over 10,000 cells from a whole animal, for single cell RNA sequencing using 10X technology.