Issue 12, 2017

Single-cell study of the extracellular matrix effect on cell growth by in situ imaging of gene expression

Abstract

Cell behaviors are known to be regulated by the cellular microenvironment. Traditional cell-population based analysis methods need to separate cells from their extracellular matrix (ECM) and cannot resolve the heterogeneity of cell behaviors. Herein, an in situ single-cell analysis method based on rolling circle amplification was exploited to image gene expression in single cells for investigating the effect of ECM stiffness on cell growth. This method enables the simultaneous quantifying of the cell phenotype and gene expression at the single-cell level, which can help in understanding the underlying molecular mechanism of cell growth. It is found that ECM stiffness could affect cell growth via regulating the expression level of the cytoskeleton-assembly associated genes PFN1 and CFL1 and their co-expression pattern. Therefore, this single-cell analysis platform may facilitate us to tap into the study of “single-cell phenotypes” and elucidate the disease association of ECMs.

Graphical abstract: Single-cell study of the extracellular matrix effect on cell growth by in situ imaging of gene expression

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
05 Sep 2017
Accepted
01 Oct 2017
First published
02 Oct 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 8019-8024

Single-cell study of the extracellular matrix effect on cell growth by in situ imaging of gene expression

Y. Sun, R. Deng, K. Zhang, X. Ren, L. Zhang and J. Li, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 8019 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC03880A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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