A primer on single-cell genomics in myeloid biology

• Published in: Current opinion in hematology Vol. 28; no. 1; p. 11
• Main Authors: Ferchen, Kyle, Song, Baobao, Leighton Grimes, H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Communication; Genomics - methods; Hematopoiesis; Hematopoietic Stem Cells - cytology; Hematopoietic Stem Cells - metabolism; Humans; Myeloid Cells - cytology; Myeloid Cells - metabolism; Single-Cell Analysis - methods
• ISSN: 1531-7048
• DOI: 10.1097/MOH.0000000000000623

Understanding the fast-moving field of single-cell technologies, as applied to myeloid biology, requires an appreciation of basic molecular, informatics, and biological concepts. Here, we highlight both key and recent articles to illustrate basic concepts for those new to molecular single-cell analyses in myeloid hematology. Recent studies apply single-cell omics to discover novel cell populations, construct relationships between cell populations, reconfigure the organization of hematopoiesis, and study hematopoietic lineage tree and fate choices. Accompanying development of technologies, new informatic tools have emerged, providing exciting new insights. Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are regulated by complex intrinsic and extrinsic factors to produce blood cell types. In this review, we discuss recent advances in single-cell omics to profile these cells, methods to infer cell type identify, and trajectories from molecular omics data to ultimately derive new insights into hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell biology. We further discuss future applications of these technologies to understand hematopoietic cell interactions, function, and development. The goal is to offer a comprehensive overview of current single-cell technologies and their impact on our understanding of myeloid cell development for those new to single-cell analyses.