Chinese scientists map world's first single-cell mammalian cell atlas

HANGZHOU - Chinese scientists have mapped the world's first single-cell mouse cell atlas (scMCA).

The research, by a team from Zhejiang University, was published Friday in the Cell journal. Evaluation experts from the journal said the research was of significance to the construction of the single-cell human cell atlas.

The scientists analyzed more than 400,000 single cells of mice using Microwell-seq, a high-throughput and low-cost scRNA-seq platform developed by the team, led by Guo Guoji. Guo said the technology would bring a methodological revolution to cell detection, taxonomy and identification.

Conventional technology for genetic sequencing analyzes cells group by group, and the specificity of each single cell may be neglected. However, the scMCA mapped by Microwell-Seq can clearly present the differentiation, lesion and senescence of each single cell.

In recent years, single-cell sequencing technology has been widely used in the detection of tumor cells and prenatal diagnosis of embryonic cells.