Single-cell RNA profiling of living cells with LC-seq

Our study reports a new technique, named 'Live cell sequencing LC-seq', by which RNAs can be profiled from single live cells with minimal deleterious cellular effects using a conventional electrophysiology rig. We show that subsequent physiological monitoring on the same cells is doable. Furthermore, benchmarking against single whole-cell sequencing WC-seq confirmed the validity of the LC-seq method. We also applied LC-seq to reveal the molecular changes caused by chemical treatment of a cancer cell line and molecular characteristics of neuronal subtypes in the brain. Overall design: Single-cell RNA profiling of living cancer cells in vitro and cortical neurons in mouse brain coronal slices with LC-seq and WC-seq