A unified rodent atlas reveals the cellular complexity and evolutionary divergence of the dorsal vagal complex

The dorsal vagal complex (DVC) is a region in the brainstem comprised of an intricate of specialized cells responsible for sensing and propagating many appetite-related cues. Understanding the complex dynamics leading to appetite responses requires a deep exploration of the cell types and transitory states harbored in this brain site. We generated a multi-species DVC cell atlas using single nuclei RNAseq (sn-RNAseq), thorough curation and harmonization of mouse and rat data which includes >180,000 cells and 123 cell identities at 5 granularities of cellular resolution.