Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Single-Cell Atlas of the Drosophila Leg Disc Identifies a Long Non-Coding RNA Associated with Distal Leg Development

Joyce Tse
ORCID logo ,
Tsz Ho Li
,
Jizhou Zhang
,
Alan Lee
,
Ivy Lee
,
Zhe Qu
,
Xiao Lin
ORCID logo ,
Jerome Hui
ORCID logo ,
Ting-Fung Chan
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 26 May 2022 / Approved: 27 May 2022 / Online: 27 May 2022 (09:48:47 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Tse, J.; Li, T.H.; Zhang, J.; Lee, A.C.K.; Lee, I.; Qu, Z.; Lin, X.; Hui, J.; Chan, T.-F. Single-Cell Atlas of the Drosophila Leg Disc Identifies a Long Non-Coding RNA in Late Development. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 6796. Tse, J.; Li, T.H.; Zhang, J.; Lee, A.C.K.; Lee, I.; Qu, Z.; Lin, X.; Hui, J.; Chan, T.-F. Single-Cell Atlas of the Drosophila Leg Disc Identifies a Long Non-Coding RNA in Late Development. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 6796.

Abstract

The Drosophila imaginal disc has been an excellent model for the study of developmental gene regulation. In particular, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have gained widespread attention in recent years due to their important role in gene regulation. Their specific spatiotemporal expressions further support their role in developmental processes and diseases. In this study, we explored the role of a novel lncRNA in Drosophila leg development by dissecting and dissociating w1118 third-instar larval third leg (L3) discs into single cells and single nuclei, and performing single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-cell assays for transposase-accessible chromatin (scATAC-seq). Single-cell transcriptomics analysis of the L3 discs across three developmental timepoints revealed different cell types and identified lncRNA:CR33938 as a distal specific gene with high expression in late development. This was further validated by fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH). The scATAC-seq results reproduced the single-cell transcriptomics landscape and elucidated the distal cell functions at different timepoints. Furthermore, overexpression of lncRNA:CR33938 in the S2 cell line increased the expression of leg development genes, further confirming its important role in development.

Keywords

Drosophila; leg imaginal disc; lncRNA; development; scRNA-seq; scATAC-seq

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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