SEQUENCING OF SINGLE CELLS: APPLICATION AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Introduction. Sequencing of single cells makes it possible to characterize the cellular and molecular composition of tissues, the state of DNA, RNA and expressed proteins. The «single-cell» sequencing method is gaining increasing popularity in modern biology and medicine. The purpose of the study. Analysis and characterization of single-cell sequencing techniques and their applied significance. Material and methods. The literature search was conducted in the open electronic databases of scientific literature PubMed, Elibrary, bioRxiv and Scopus. The search depth was 27 years. 46 articles were selected for analysis. Results. Single-cell RNA sequencing – scRNA–seq – transcriptomics of individual cells with gene expression profiling. It allows clustering cells by state or type; registering rare genes that are discarded when sequencing a common transcriptome; detect point mutations. Spatial transcriptomics – smFISH and MERFISH – methods for mapping gene expression at the genome level in stationary tissue samples developed in addition to RNA sequencing technologies. With these methods, an image is obtained using fluorescent labels. Spatial sequencing – Slide-seq – allows us to characterize the entire transcriptome of a certain area of the isolated tissue on a slide with a resolution close to one cell. Further research of this analysis is required to reduce its cost and adapt it for more convenient use. Conclusions. The use of single-cell sequencing methods, as well as the study of the epigenome and transcriptome, will help to differentiate cells into various subpopulations, as well as to find new predictive and prognostic targets for therapy.