Spatial discordances between mRNAs and proteins in the intestinal epithelium

We obtained a spatial measurement of RNA and Proteins in the small intestinal epithelium along the crypt-villus axis. We found that both were spatially heterogeneous, yet often spatially anti-correlated. We developed a Bayesian approach to infer protein translation and degradation rates from the combined spatial profiles, and demonstrate that space-independent protein-synthesis delays can explain the mRNA-protein discordances. Our work provides a proteomic spatial blueprint of the Intestinal epithelium and highlights the importance of protein measurements for inferring states of tissue cells that operate outside of steady state