It's all in the math: New tool provides roadmap for cell development
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have created a new tool to describe the many possible ways in which a cell may develop. Rooted in the mathematical field of topology, the tool provides a roadmap that offers detailed insight into how stem cells give rise to specialized cells.
The study was published today in Nature Biotechnology.
Every organism begins with one cell. As that cell divides, its copies branch off to become specialized cells—such as heart, bone, or brain cells—in a process known as differentiation. To understand the internal and external cues that move cells along this path, scientists can sequence their RNA—the molecular messenger that translates DNA into proteins and other products.
Sequencing RNA from a batch of cells is not ideal, however, because the cells are usually in different states of development. To address this problem, scientists have developed single-cell RNA sequencing. "It's like a new microscope, giving us the ability to study many biological phenomena at once," said Raul Rabadan, PhD, associate professor of systems biology and biomedical informatics at Columbia and co-author of the paper. "However, researchers are still left with the problem of understanding the relationships between different cell states, which drive the process of development."
Single-cell topological RNA-seq analysis reveals insights into cellular differentiation and development, Nature Biotechnology (2017). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nbt.3854
Eye stem cells. Credit: University of Southampton
