Mapping human pluripotent stem cell differentiation pathways via high throughput single-cell RNA-sequencing

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide both powerful models for studying cellular differentiations, and unlimited sources of cells for regenerative medicine. However, a comprehensive single cell level differentiation roadmap for hPSCs has not been achieved yet. Here, we used high throughput single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) method, based on optimized microfluidic circuits, to profile early differentiation lineages in the human embryoid body (EB) system. We presented a cellular landscape for hPSC early differentiations covering different cellular lineages, including neural cell, muscle cell, endothelial cell, stromal cell, liver cell, and epithelial cell. Through pseudotemporal analysis, we constructed the differentiation trajectories of these progenitor cells and revealed the gene expression dynamics in the process of differentiation. We reset Primed H9 into Naïve-like H9 and studied cell state transition process via scRNA-seq. We found that mesendoderm genes are enriched in Naïve-like H9. Functionally, Naïve-like H9 showed better potency for differentiation into the hematopoietic lineages. We constructed the differentiation landscape of hPSC early differentiation by scRNA-seq analysis. We offer new insights into molecular pathways of early embryonic lineages that can be harnessed for optimization of differentiation protocols. (Pipeline for C1 data demultiplex : https://github.com/bioeauty/sccpipe)