Single cell RNA-sequencing experiment of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) upon Wnt stimulation treatment at three time points (4 hours, 24 hours and 3 days)
Wnt/b-catenin signalling is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for cell-cell communication implicated in both developmental processes and diseases such as cancer. A main part of this signalling pathway is the stabilization and nuclear translocation of b-catenin, driving the transcriptional regulation of target genes. However, while b-catenin target genes traditionally have been through to be collectively regulated upon Wnt pathway stimulation, this appears in contrast with the non-overlapping patterns of Wnt target gene expression in several contexts, including early mammalian embryogenesis. To address the question whether individual cells exhibits diverse responses to Wnt stimulation, we followed Wnt target gene activation in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) via single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNAseq) after GSK3 inhibition at 4, 24 and 72 hours of stimulation.