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Profile of an unknown airway cell

RNA sequencing of single cells in the mammalian trachea reveals a previously unknown airway cell that expresses genes involved in fluid and solute balance, and that might play a part in cystic fibrosis.
  1. Kyle J. Travaglini

    1. Kyle J. Travaglini is in the Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

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  2. Mark A. Krasnow

    1. Mark A. Krasnow is in the Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

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Over the past two centuries, light and electron microscopy have enabled scientists to identify six or more cell types that line the mammalian airways, transporting oxygen into the body and protecting us from microbes and particles in the air we breathe. In the past two decades, the identification of molecular markers for most of these cell types has provided insight into their functions, and given researchers and physicians a way to locate and characterize the cells in clinical specimens. Writing in Nature, Montoro et al.1 and Plasschaert et al.2 now describe the full gene-expression profiles of cell types that line the mammalian trachea. In doing so, they have discovered a previously unknown cell type that could hold the key to understanding the disease cystic fibrosis.

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Nature 560, 313-314 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05813-7

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