Advances and Opportunities in Single-Cell Transcriptomics for Plant Research

Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2021 Jun 17:72:847-866. doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-081720-010120. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Abstract

Single-cell approaches are quickly changing our view on biological systems by increasing the spatiotemporal resolution of our analyses to the level of the individual cell. The field of plant biology has fully embraced single-cell transcriptomics and is rapidly expanding the portfolio of available technologies and applications. In this review, we give an overview of the main advances in plant single-cell transcriptomics over the past few years and provide the reader with an accessible guideline covering all steps, from sample preparation to data analysis. We end by offering a glimpse of how these technologies will shape and accelerate plant-specific research in the near future.

Keywords: cell atlas; cell trajectory; plant transcriptomics; protoplast; scRNA-seq.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology
  • Plants / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA
  • Single-Cell Analysis*
  • Transcriptome*