Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals micro-evolution of the stickleback immune system

View ORCID ProfileLauren E. Fuess, View ORCID ProfileDaniel I. Bolnick
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.20.473470
Lauren E. Fuess
1Department of Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 78666
2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Lauren E. Fuess
  • For correspondence: lefuess@txstate.edu
Daniel I. Bolnick
2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Daniel I. Bolnick
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Data/Code
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Pathogenic infection is an important driver of many ecological processes. Furthermore, variability in immune function is an important driver of differential infection outcomes. New evidence would suggest that immune variation extends to broad cellular structure of immune systems. However, variability at such broad levels is traditionally difficult to detect in non-model systems. Here we leverage single cell transcriptomic approaches to document signatures of microevolution of immune system structure in a natural system, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We sampled nine adult fish from three populations with variability in resistance to a cestode parasite, Schistocephalus solidus, to create the first comprehensive immune cell atlas for G. aculeatus. Eight major immune cell types, corresponding to major vertebrate immune cells, were identified. We were also able to document significant variation in both abundance and expression profiles of the individual immune cell types, among the three populations of fish. This variability may contribute to observed variability in parasite susceptibility. Finally, we demonstrate that identified cell type markers can be used to reinterpret traditional transcriptomic data. Combined our study demonstrates the power of single cell sequencing to not only document evolutionary phenomena (i.e. microevolution of immune cells), but also increase the power of traditional transcriptomic datasets.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • https://github.com/lfuess/scRNAseq

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted December 21, 2021.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Data/Code
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals micro-evolution of the stickleback immune system
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals micro-evolution of the stickleback immune system
Lauren E. Fuess, Daniel I. Bolnick
bioRxiv 2021.12.20.473470; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.20.473470
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals micro-evolution of the stickleback immune system
Lauren E. Fuess, Daniel I. Bolnick
bioRxiv 2021.12.20.473470; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.20.473470

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Immunology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4246)
  • Biochemistry (9173)
  • Bioengineering (6806)
  • Bioinformatics (24064)
  • Biophysics (12157)
  • Cancer Biology (9565)
  • Cell Biology (13825)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7660)
  • Ecology (11737)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15544)
  • Genetics (10672)
  • Genomics (14362)
  • Immunology (9515)
  • Microbiology (22907)
  • Molecular Biology (9130)
  • Neuroscience (49155)
  • Paleontology (358)
  • Pathology (1487)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2584)
  • Physiology (3851)
  • Plant Biology (8351)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1473)
  • Synthetic Biology (2301)
  • Systems Biology (6206)
  • Zoology (1303)