Integration of single-cell proteomics and transcriptomics reveals critical proteins in hematopoietic stem cells, suggesting enhanced understanding of differentiation trajectories.
Single-cell transcriptomics (scRNA-seq) has facilitated the characterization of cell state heterogeneity and recapitulation of differentiation trajectories. However, the exclusive use of mRNA measurements comes at the risk of missing important biological information. Here we leveraged recent technological advances in single-cell proteomics by Mass Spectrometry (scp-MS) to generate an scp-MS dataset of an in vivo differentiation hierarchy encompassing over 2500 human CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Through integration with scRNA-seq, we identified proteins that are important for stem cell function, which were not indicated by their mRNA transcripts. Further, we showed that modeling translation dynamics can infer cell progression during differentiation and explain substantially more protein variation from mRNA than linear correlation. Our work offers a framework for single-cell multi-omics studies across biological systems.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Furtwängler et al. (2025) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: