title: Single-cell RNA sequencing: revealing human pre-implantation development, pluripotency and germline development.
abstract: Early human development is a dynamic, heterogeneous, complex and multidimensional process. During the first week, the single-cell zygote undergoes eight to nine rounds of cell division generating the multicellular blastocyst, which consists of hundreds of cells forming spatially organized embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues. At the level of transcription, degradation of maternal RNA commences at around the two-cell stage, coinciding with embryonic genome activation. Although numerous efforts have recently focused on delineating this process in humans, many questions still remain as thorough investigation has been limited by ethical issues, scarce availability of human embryos and the presence of minute amounts of DNA and RNA. In vitro cultures of embryonic stem cells provide some insight into early human development, but such studies have been confounded by analysis on a population level failing to appreciate cellular heterogeneity. Recent technical developments in single-cell RNA sequencing have provided a novel and powerful tool to explore the early human embryo in a systematic manner. In this review, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques utilized to specifically investigate human development and consider how the technology has yielded new insights into pre-implantation development, embryonic stem cells and the establishment of the germ line.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet and, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.|Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petropoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet and, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Panula
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet and, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Schell
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet and, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lanner
mesh_terms: D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D041321:Chromosomes, Human, X / Q000235:genetics; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics*; D000066473:Embryonic Germ Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006066:Gonads / Q000502:physiology; D000066449:Human Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
keywords: germ cells; global transcription; pre-implantation development; single cell; stem cells