Single-cell RNA transcriptome reveals heterogeneity and dynamics of cells during skeletal muscle development in different chicken breeds

Different chicken breeds exhibit distinct muscle phenotypes resulting from selective breeding, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for this phenotypic difference. Skeletal muscle is composed of a large number of heterogeneous cell populations. Differences in differentiation and interaction of cell populations play a key role in the difference of skeletal muscle phenotype. Here, skeletal muscle single-cell RNA sequencing in three developmental stages was performed on Daheng broiler (cultivated breed) and Tibetan chicken (native breed). Leg musculatures were collected from the male embryos were dissected at embryonic (E) 10, E14, and E18 of Daheng broiler and Tibetan chicken. For each group, pooled skeletal muscle samples isolated from at least three embryos were dissociated into single cell suspension, resulting a total of 6 samples for single-cell RNA sequencing.