The molecular landscape of neural differentiation in the developing Drosophila brain revealed by targeted scRNA-seq and multi-informatic analysis
Nigel S. Michki, Ye Li, Kayvon Sanjasaz, Yimeng Zhao, Fred Shen, Logan A. Walker, Wenjia Cao, Cheng‐Yu Lee, Dawen Cai
Abstract
The Drosophila type II neuroblast lineages present an attractive model to investigate the neurogenesis and differentiation process as they adapt to a process similar to that in the human outer subventricular zone. We perform targeted single-cell mRNA sequencing in third instar larval brains to study this process of the type II NB lineage. Combining prior knowledge, in silico analyses, and in situ validation, our multi-informatic investigation describes the molecular landscape from a single developmental snapshot. 17 markers are identified to differentiate distinct maturation stages. 30 markers are identified to specify the stem cell origin and/or cell division numbers of INPs, and at least 12 neuronal subtypes are identified. To foster future discoveries, we provide annotated tables of pairwise gene-gene correlation in single cells and MiCV, a web tool for interactively analyzing scRNA-seq datasets. Taken together, these resources advance our understanding of the neural differentiation process at the molecular level.