Single-cell RNA-seq analysis reveals compartment-specific heterogeneity and plasticity of microglia
Junying Zheng,
Wenjuan Ru,
Jay R. Adolacion,
Michael S. Spurgat,
Xin Liu,
Subo Yuan,
Rommel X. Liang,
Jianli Dong,
Andrew S. Potter,
S Steven Potter,
Ken Chen,
Rui Chen,
Navin Varadarajan,
Shao-Jun Tang
Affiliations
Junying Zheng
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Wenjuan Ru
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Jay R. Adolacion
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA
Michael S. Spurgat
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Xin Liu
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Subo Yuan
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Rommel X. Liang
Department of Pathology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Jianli Dong
Department of Pathology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA
Andrew S. Potter
Division of Developmental Biology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
S Steven Potter
Division of Developmental Biology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
Ken Chen
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Division of Quantitative Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, TX, USA
Rui Chen
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston 77030, TX, USA
Navin Varadarajan
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA
Shao-Jun Tang
Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, & Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Microglia are ubiquitous central nervous system (CNS)-resident macrophages that maintain homeostasis of neural tissues and protect them from pathogen attacks. Yet, their differentiation in different compartments remains elusive. We performed single-cell RNA-seq to compare microglial subtypes in the cortex and the spinal cord. A multi-way comparative analysis was carried out on samples from C57/BL and HIV gp120 transgenic mice at two, four, and eight months of age. The results revealed overlapping but distinct microglial populations in the cortex and the spinal cord. The differential heterogeneity of microglia in these CNS regions was further suggested by their disparity of plasticity in response to life span progression and HIV-1 pathogenic protein gp120. Our findings indicate that microglia in different CNS compartments are adapted to their local environments to fulfill region-specific biological functions.
