Copolymerization of single-cell nucleic acids into balls of acrylamide gel.

Lien vers Pubmed [PMID] – 31727682

Lien DOI – 10.1101/gr.253047.119

Genome Res 2020 01; 30(1): 49-61

We show the use of 5′-Acrydite oligonucleotides to copolymerize single-cell DNA or RNA into balls of acrylamide gel (BAGs). Combining this step with split-and-pool techniques for creating barcodes yields a method with advantages in cost and scalability, depth of coverage, ease of operation, minimal cross-contamination, and efficient use of samples. We perform DNA copy number profiling on mixtures of cell lines, nuclei from frozen prostate tumors, and biopsy washes. As applied to RNA, the method has high capture efficiency of transcripts and sufficient consistency to clearly distinguish the expression patterns of cell lines and individual nuclei from neurons dissected from the mouse brain. By using varietal tags (UMIs) to achieve sequence error correction, we show extremely low levels of cross-contamination by tracking source-specific SNVs. The method is readily modifiable, and we will discuss its adaptability and diverse applications.