Single-cell functional transcriptomics of mouse DRG mechanosensory neurons

A variety of mechanosensory neurons are involved in touch, proprioception and pain. Many molecular components of the mechanotransduction machinery subserving these sensory modalities remain to be discovered. Here, we combined recordings of mechanosensitive (MS) currents in mechanosensory neurons with single cell RNA sequencing. In silico analysis of collected data combined with a previous large-scale dataset allowed to link the four identified kinetically distinct MS current subtypes to transcriptomically defined populations of DRG neurons. Moreover, gene expression differential comparison provided a list of candidate genes for mechanotransduction complexes. This dataset constitutes an open-resource to explore further the cell-type-specific determinants of mechanosensory properties. scRNAseq of mechano-phenotyped DRG neurons using patch-clamp experiments