A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the dog hippocampus reveals the potential relationship between specific cell types and domestication

Qi-Jun Zhou; Xingyan Liu; Longlong Zhang; Rong Wang; Tingting Yin; Xiaolu Li; Guimei Li; Yuqi He; Zhaoli Ding; Pengcheng Ma; Shi-Zhi Wang; Bingyu Mao; Shihua Zhang; Guo-Dong Wang

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwac147

A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the dog hippocampus reveals the potential relationship between specific cell types and domestication

Natl Sci Rev. 2022 Jul 23;9(11):nwac147. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwac147. eCollection 2022 Nov.

Authors

Qi-Jun Zhou¹, Xingyan Liu^{2

3}, Longlong Zhang^{1

4}, Rong Wang^{1

5

4}, Tingting Yin¹, Xiaolu Li⁶, Guimei Li¹, Yuqi He⁶, Zhaoli Ding⁶, Pengcheng Ma¹, Shi-Zhi Wang¹, Bingyu Mao^{1

7}, Shihua Zhang^{2

3

7

8}, Guo-Dong Wang^{1

5

4

7}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
² NCMIS, CEMS, RCSDS, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
³ School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
⁵ College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁶ Genomic Center of Biodiversity, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
⁷ Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Systems Health Science of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Science, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China.

Abstract

The process of domestication has led to dramatic differences in behavioral traits between domestic dogs and gray wolves. Whole-genome research found that a class of putative positively selected genes were related to various aspects of learning and memory, such as long-term potentiation and long-term depression. In this study, we constructed a single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the dog hippocampus to illustrate its cell types, cell lineage and molecular features. Using the transcriptomes of 105 057 nuclei from the hippocampus of a Beagle dog, we identified 26 cell clusters and a putative trajectory of oligodendrocyte development. Comparative analysis revealed a significant convergence between dog differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and putative positively selected genes (PSGs). Forty putative PSGs were DEGs in glutamatergic neurons, especially in Cluster 14, which is related to the regulation of nervous system development. In summary, this study provides a blueprint to understand the cellular mechanism of dog domestication.

Keywords: dog; domestication; hippocampus; single-nucleus RNA sequencing.