Multiplex single cell analysis of serotonergic neuron function in planarians reveals widespread effects in diverse cell types

We used scRNA-seq to examine serotonergic function in asexual planarians. We profiled 47,292 single cell transcriptomes of planarian of 3 different RNAi categories: gfp(RNAi), lhx1/5-1(RNAi) and pitx(RNAi). We detected changes in cell type frequency and gene expression patterns in planarian of different knock-down conditions, capturing regulatory programs of distinct cell types in response to loss of serotonergic function. We obtained cell dissociations from adult populations of the asexual strain of Schmidtea mediterranea of serotonergic trascription factors (pitx and lhx1/5-1) RNAi conditions.