Meeting Abstract
P3.181 Monday, Jan. 6 15:30 Comparative Single-Neuron Transcriptomics: An analysis of master regulators in terminal differentiation of serotonergic neurons in the sea slug Aplysia californica DABE, E.C.*; CITARELLA, M; KOHN, A.B.; MOROZ, L.L.; UF Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience ; UF Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience ; UF Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience ; UF Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience edabe2@ufl.edu
Aplysia neurons are some of the largest somatic cells in the animal kingdom with enough genetic material per cell to allow for in depth genomic analysis with single-cell resolution. In order to understand gene regulation and expression changes underlying complex neuronal phenotypes, next generation RNA-seq was performed on freshly isolated individual Aplysia neurons. To efficiently analyze large-scale transcriptome information, we performed initial assemblies using an automatic pipeline and housed data on a specialized sequencing database called Neurobase. Using this database, single-cell RNA-seq projects were annotated and quantified against a hybrid Aplysia transcriptome generated for the Aplysia genome sequencing project as well as Aplysia predicted gene models created in conjunction with the Broad Institute. We first compared the left and right metacerebral cells (MCCs) – an evolutionary conserved pair of modulatory neurons critical for the initiation of feeding behaviors in gastropods. MCC neurons have the same serotonergic phenotype and function, but also represent a unique model to study genomic bases of bilateral symmetry in nervous systems in general. We then compared MCCs with several other classes of identified neurons in the feeding and defensive circuits. Using this robust single-cell transcriptome approach, we identified an unbiased list of potential master regulators for left-right patterning,serotonergic terminal differentiation, and then started validating these candidates in terms of their neuron-type specificity and evolutionary conservation across close and more distantly related species.
