Single cell transcriptome analysis of MCF-7 reveals consistently and inconsistently expressed gene groups each associated with distinct cellular localization and functions

PLoS One. 2018 Jun 19;13(6):e0199471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199471. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Single cell transcriptome (SCT) analysis provides superior resolution to illustrate tumor cell heterogeneity for clinical implications. We characterized four SCTs of MCF-7 using 143 housekeeping genes (HKGs) as control, of which lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) expression is silenced. These SCT libraries mapped to 11,423, 11,486, 10,380, and 11,306 RefSeq genes (UCSC), respectively. High consistency in HKG expression levels across all four SCTs, along with transcriptional silencing of LDHB, was observed, suggesting a high sensitivity and reproducibility of the SCT analysis. Cross-library comparison on expression levels by scatter plotting revealed a linear correlation and an 83-94% overlap in transcript isoforms and expressed genes were also observed. To gain insight of transcriptional diversity among the SCTs, expressed genes were split into consistently expressed (CE) (expressed in all SCTs) and inconsistently expressed (IE) (expressed in some but not all SCTs) genes for further characterization, along with the 142 expressed HKGs as a reference. Distinct transcriptional strengths were found among these groups, with averages of 1,612.0, 88.0 and 1.2 FPKM for HKGs, CE and IE, respectively. Comparison between CE and IE groups further indicated that expressions of CE genes vary more significantly than that of IE genes. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that proteins encoded by CE genes are mainly involved in fundamental intracellular activities, while proteins encoded by IE genes are mainly for extracellular activities, especially acting as receptors or ion channels. The diversified gene expressions, especially for those encoded by IE genes, may contribute to cancer drug resistance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / genetics
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Genes, Essential / genetics
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Neoplasm Proteins / genetics*
  • Single-Cell Analysis / methods*

Substances

  • Neoplasm Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Summit Project provided by Academia Sinica and PI funding provided by Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.