SUGAR-seq enables simultaneous detection of glycans, epitopes, and the transcriptome in single cells.

Abstract

Multimodal single-cell RNA sequencing enables the precise mapping of transcriptional and phenotypic features of cellular differentiation states but does not allow for simultaneous integration of critical posttranslational modification data. Here, we describe SUrface-protein Glycan And RNA-seq (SUGAR-seq), a method that enables detection and analysis of N-linked glycosylation, extracellular epitopes, and the transcriptome at the single-cell level. Integrated SUGAR-seq and glycoproteome analysis identified tumor-infiltrating T cells with unique surface glycan properties that report their epigenetic and functional state.