A single cell atlas of human teeth (Pulp scRNA-seq)

Teeth exert fundamental functions related to mastication and speech. Despite their big biomedical interest, an overall picture of their cellular and molecular composition is still lacking. We here mapped the transcriptional landscape of the various stem cell populations and their microenvironments in human teeth at single-cell resolution. Our analysis identified significant cellular heterogeneity between the various dental tissues. Unexpectedly, we found that the molecular signatures of the stem cell populations were very similar in vivo, and that their distinctive behavior was due to substantial differences between their microenvironments. Furthermore, we showed that the evolutionarily conserved Notch signaling pathway is important for the interactions between dental stem cells and the diverse cell types composing their niches. Our findings reveal that the microenvironmental specificity is responsible for the major functional differences of the stem cells located in the various tooth compartments and open new perspectives towards dental cell-based therapeutic approaches.