PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Brian Y. H. Lam
AU  - Irene Cimino
AU  - Joseph Polex-Wolf
AU  - Sara Nicole Kohnke
AU  - Debra Rimmington
AU  - Valentine Iyemere
AU  - Nicholas Heeley
AU  - Chiara Cossetti
AU  - Reiner Schulte
AU  - Luis R. Saraiva
AU  - Darren W. Logan
AU  - Clemence Blouet
AU  - Stephen O’Rahilly
AU  - Anthony P. Coll
AU  - Giles S. H. Yeo
TI  - Heterogeneity of hypothalamic Pro-opiomelanocortin-expressing neurons revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing
AID  - 10.1101/103408
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 103408
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/01/28/103408.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/01/28/103408.full
AB  - Arcuate proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons are critical nodes in the control of body weight. Often characterised simply as direct targets for leptin, recent data suggest a more complex architecture. Using single cell RNA sequencing, we have generated an atlas of gene expression in murine POMC neurons. Of 163 neurons, 118 expressed high levels of Pomc with little/no Agrp expression and were considered “canonical” POMC neurons (P+). The other 45/163 expressed low levels of Pomc and high levels of Agrp (A+P+). Unbiased clustering analysis of P+ neurons revealed four different classes, each with distinct cell surface receptor gene expression profiles. Further, only 12% (14/118) of P+ neurons expressed the leptin receptor (Lepr) compared with 58% (26/45) of A+P+ neurons. In contrast, the insulin receptor (Insr) was expressed at similar frequency on P+ and A+P+ neurons (64% and 55%, respectively). These data reveal arcuate POMC neurons to be a highly heterogeneous population.