Cell type diversity articles from across Nature Portfolio

Recent phylogenetic analyses have identified orphan clades, including Xenacoelomorphs, that can offer insights into bilaterian evolution. Here they generate a cell type atlas of Xenoturbella bockithat highlights cellular diversity in the nervous system and other tissues, reinforcing the idea of parallel evolution of cell types across animals.

Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing data from the cerebellum of human, mouse and opossum is used to analyse the developmental dynamics of cell types and states in mammalian cerebellum and provide evolutionary insights.

Excitatory spiny stellate neurons in the somatosensory cortex are shaped by innervating thalamic inputs and unique expression of genes. Here, the authors show that these neurons play a crucial role in processing distinct whisker signals and forming specialized circuits for sensory perception.

How does sensory input shape cellular composition and circuit structure of the brain during development? This study shows that, without connections to the retina, neurons in visual brain areas differentiate and wire up normally, albeit more slowly.

Methanol fixation appears to be the method of choice for droplet-based scRNA-seq on neural cell populations, based on a broad analysis of how various fixation or preservation methods impact the single-cell transcriptomes of hiPSC-derived neural cells.

Andersen, Thom and colleagues reveal the single-cell-resolution transcriptome of the midgestation human spinal cord and discover remarkable heterogeneity across and within cell types.

Subtypes of pyramidal neurons influence the transcriptomic states of nearby microglia in the mouse somatosensory cortex.

Mapping promoter–enhancer interactions reveals that increased diversity of cell types in the vertebrate CNS coincides with the evolutionary expansion of complexity in noncoding regions of the genome

In their flagship paper, the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) describes the classification and analysis of cell types in the mammalian primary motor cortex.

A new study proposes an exciting new model of neuronal diversification in the developing enteric nervous system (ENS) and establishes a detailed molecular taxonomy for enteric neurons. Their findings open new horizons for ENS research and for developing cell-based therapies for ENS disorders.