Understanding Mammalian Hair Follicle Ecosystems by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

Qingbo Zheng; Xiaolan Zhang; Pengjia Bao; Xuelan Zhou; Min Chu; Xian Guo; Chunnian Liang; Heping Pan; Ping Yan

doi:10.3390/ani12182409

Understanding Mammalian Hair Follicle Ecosystems by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

Animals (Basel). 2022 Sep 14;12(18):2409. doi: 10.3390/ani12182409.

Authors

Qingbo Zheng^{1

2

3}, Xiaolan Zhang^{1

2}, Pengjia Bao^{1

2}, Xuelan Zhou^{1

2}, Min Chu^{1

2}, Xian Guo^{1

2}, Chunnian Liang^{1

2}, Heping Pan³, Ping Yan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Engineering of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
² Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
³ Life Science and Engineering College, Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China.

Abstract

Single-cell sequencing technology can fully reflect the heterogeneity of cell populations at the single cell level, making it possible for us to re-recognize various tissues and organs. At present, the sequencing study of hair follicles is transiting from the traditional ordinary transcriptome level to the single cell level, which will provide diverse insights into the function of hair follicle cells. This review focuses on research advances in the hair follicle microenvironment obtained from scRNA-seq studies of major cell types in hair follicle development, with a special emphasis on the discovery of new subpopulations of hair follicles by single-cell techniques. We also discuss the problems and current solutions in scRNA-seq observation and look forward to its prospects.

Keywords: hair follicles; scRNA-seq; single cells.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (25-LZIHPS-01), the Science and Technology Aid Qinghai Cooperation Special Project (2020-QY-212), the National Beef Cattle Industry Technology & System (CARS-37), and the Science and Technology program of Gansu Province (20JR5RA580).