Single cell sequencing of developing heart valves identifies novel cell populations and uncovers interstitial cell heterogeneity

Our study has two main goals. The first is to define a gene expression atlas of heart valve cells and identify cell heterogeneity within postnatal heart valve development. The second is to identify interstitial cell populations involved in ECM remodeling during postnatal heart valve development. Overall design: Using droplet RNA sequencing, transcriptomes of single cells from P7 and P30 murine aortic and mitral heart valves were analyzed.

本研究主要包含两大核心目标。其一，明确心脏瓣膜细胞的基因表达图谱（gene expression atlas），并解析出生后心脏瓣膜发育过程中的细胞异质性（cell heterogeneity）；其二，鉴定出生后心脏瓣膜发育过程中参与细胞外基质（Extracellular Matrix，ECM）重塑的间质细胞群。实验设计：采用液滴RNA测序（droplet RNA sequencing）技术，对出生后第7天（P7）与第30天（P30）小鼠主动脉瓣与二尖瓣的单细胞转录组进行了分析。