Single cell transcriptional profile of Zika-infected iPSC-derived neural cells

We used single cell RNA sequencing to evaluate the transcriptional response to Zika infection in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural cells. We sought to compare the consequences of Zika infection in purified neural progenitor cells (NPCs) to differentiated neural cells (DIFF). As an additional comparator, we also included NPCs and DIFF cells treated with interferon-beta. Overall design: NPCs were differentiated into mixed mature neural cell types (DIFF) over 6 weeks; these were compared to freshly passaged NPCs. Cells from both conditions (NPCs and DIFF) were then treated with one of the following four treatment conditions: 1. Zika infection for 48 hours; 2. MOCK infection using NPC-conditioned medium; 3. IFNb treatment for 6 hours; 4. untreated as a control