Dissociation of Tissues for Single-Cell Analysis

Abstract

It is now a routine to carry out single-cell RNA-Seq to define the gene expression patterns of thousands of cells, thereby revolutionizing many areas of research. Projects are underway to use these techniques to create an atlas of the expressed genes in all cell types of the human body. Here we describe cold-active protease methods for single-cell dissociation of organs and tissues that better preserve the in vivo gene expression patterns.

Keywords: Immediate early response genes; Organ dissociation; Psychrophilic proteases; Reduced gene expression artifacts; Single-cell suspensions.