Transcriptomic profile of the mouse postnatal liver development by single nucleus RNA sequencing

The mammalian liver is the major hematopoietic organ during embryonic development, while postnatally its functions change dramatically to support the body metabolism and blood flow, as well as playing important endocrine functions, among others. How the liver adapts to those environmental changes after birth and gradually develops these functions remains elusive. Here, we performed single-nucleus RNA-seq (snRNA-seq) profiling 43,343 nuclei from four key time points of mouse postnatal liver development (P0, P3, P7, P14). We identified 20 clusters of different liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cell types and analyzed the dynamics in cell composition and biological functions in the developmental processes. By surveying the differentiation trajectory of hepatocytes, we found that several pathways changed significantly in the postnatal liver development, such as glycolysis, bile secretion, and VEGF signaling pathway. Taken together, this study provides a comprehensive single-nuclei transcriptomic atlas of liver cell composition to study the dynamic changes that reshape mouse liver to activate its metabolic functions after birth.