Cell differentiation in the unicellular holozoan Capsaspora owczarzaki analyzed by single-cell RNA-seq

IÑAKI RUIZ-TRILLO; SEBASTIÁN R. NAJLE

Praga

Congreso; 15th International Congress of Protistology ICOP2017; 2017

International Society of Protistologits

Cell differentiation is a fundamental attribute of complex multicellular organisms, underpinning the functional specialization of cells and tissues during embryonic development. It has been proposed that animal multicellularity originated by a transition from temporal to spatial cell differentiation. Different types of simple multicellularity can be found during the life cycles of unicellular holozoans, the closest relatives of animals. There is the clonal development of colonial choanoflagellates, the aggregative behavior of Capsaspora owczarzaki, and the coenocytic development of ichthyosporeans. Those colonies and aggregates are assumed to be without cell differentiation. However, there is no molecular data proving that all cells within those colonies or aggregates or coenocytes are identical. Here, we show our advances in developing single-cell transcriptomics methodology in C. owczarzaki to molecularly characterize its cell types. We used the microfluidics-based single-cell RNAseq methodology called inDrops to analyze transcriptomes from a few thousands of single-cells from C. owczarzaki aggregates, as well as from adherent cultures. The possibility of analyzing differential gene expression at the single-cell level in C. owczarzaki aggregates will allow us to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying programs of cell differentiation in the origin of animals.