Cells of a given type or tissue may appear similar and yet behave differently. In the brain, for example, neurons of the same subtype may play very different roles depending on their locations and connections.
In short, when it comes to specific cell functions, “spatial information is absolutely critical,” says gene-expression researcher Je Lee of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Researchers are therefore developing tools to examine the expression of...
STARmap (Spatially Resolved Transcript Amplicon Readout Mapping) is “a significant step toward true 3-D gene expression analysis,” says molecular systems biologist Sten Linnarsson of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute who was not involved in the work. In the past, a researcher wanting to examine the expression of multiple genes at once in a tissue was “pretty much limited to working with thin sections” because of imaging difficulties, Linnarsson explains. For example, a principal technique used for such analyses—RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)—can suffer from background fluorescence due to probes’ binding to nonspecific sequences and glomming on to tissue proteins.
To maximize the signal-to-noise ratio with STARmap, Wang and her colleagues first amplify their RNA targets within the tissue section using a technique that produces hundreds of tandem cDNA copies, each with a unique DNA barcode. They then add acrylamide to the sample, to which the amplified cDNAs crosslink, forming a tissue hydrogel. Fats and proteins are then stripped away from the gel to leave a transparent yet structurally preserved specimen. Lastly, the team sequences the amplified barcodes in situ, using confocal microscopy to image the patterns of fluorescent nucleotides at individual spots.
“The [image] quality they demonstrate here is very impressive,” Linnarsson says.
The team has used the technique to study the expression of up to 28 genes simultaneously in 150-micron slices of mouse brain tissue, and more than 1,000 genes simultaneously in 8-micron slices. These analyses revealed previously unappreciated differences in the distribution of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal subtypes (identified by their expressed genes) over the brain’s cortical layers.
Next, says Wang, “We are moving up to 1-mm sections, and ultimately aiming for the whole mouse brain.” (Science, doi:10.1126/science.aat5691, 2018)
| In-tissue multiplex gene expression detection | Target RNA detection | Maximum tissue thickness | Number of expressed genes possible to view at once | Tissue |
| Multiplex single-molecule RNA FISH | In situ hybridization of target mRNAs with fluorescently labeled probes | 15 microns | 249 in 15-µm slices (Shah et al., Neuron, 92:342–57, 2016) | Brain |
| STARmap | In situ amplification of mRNA targets followed by their in-situ sequencing with ligation of fluorescent probes | 8 microns for hundreds of genes 150 microns for tens of genes | 1,020 in 8-µm slices 28 in 150-µm slices | Brain |
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