Single-Cell RNA Sequencing From Frozen Samples Feasible

in Commentary March 3, 2017 4,899 Views

GenomeWeb – A new study suggests the accuracy of transcriptional profiles produced from single cells does not seem to suffer significantly when samples are frozen beforehand.

Researchers from Spain and Israel did RNA sequencing on nearly 700 individual cells nabbed from fresh samples and on more than 800 cells that had been frozen in the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or liquid nitrogen for up to six months. Their results, appearing in Genome Biology yesterday, suggest freezing does damage a proportion of cells. But the transcriptional profiles discerned from the remaining cells were on par with those generated by single-cell RNA sequencing on fresh samples.

“We can now store patient material along the course of treatment without the need of immediate sample processing,” senior author Holger Heyn, a single-cell genomics leader at Barcelona’s Institute of Science and Technology’s national center of genome analysis (CNAG-CRG), said in a statement.

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Guillaumet-Adkins A, Rodríguez-Esteban G, Mereu E, Mendez-Lago M, Jaitin DA, Villanueva A, Vidal A, Martinez-Marti A, Felip E, Vivancos A, Keren-Shaul H, Heath S, Gut M, Amit I, Gut I, Heyn H. (2017) Single-cell transcriptome conservation in cryopreserved cells and tissues. Genome Biology [Epub ahead of print]. [article]