Single-cell long-read profiling of olfactory sensory neuron differentiation and diversity
- 1State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Innovation Center for Evolutionary Synthetic Biology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- 2Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics, State Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Abstract
Olfactory sensory neurons comprise a population of highly heterogeneous subtypes. One important mechanism contributing to neuronal diversity is post-transcriptional regulation, in which isoform heterogeneity is an important component. Comprehensive profiling of transcript isoforms in olfactory sensory neurons is therefore essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying their diversity. By integrating single-cell long-read sequencing with conventional 3’ RNA sequencing, we demonstrated that these neurons contain extensive isoform diversity. We identified widespread UTR remodeling and isoform switching associated with developmental stage and spatial projection pattern, providing compelling evidence for the crucial regulatory mechanism underlying OSN diversity. Furthermore, we observed co-expression of multiple isoforms from the same olfactory receptor gene within individual olfactory sensory neurons, including some predicted to encode complete transmembrane domains. Together, these data provide a resource and framework for studying how specific isoforms contribute to olfactory sensory neuron identity, axon targeting, and the maintenance of singular olfactory receptor expression.
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BibTeX
@article{xu2026singlecell,
title = {{Single-cell long-read profiling of olfactory sensory neuron differentiation and diversity}},
author = {Yicong Xu and Jiawen Yang and Wasiyu Yuan and Tao Xu and Peiyu Shi and Tingting Huang and Qing Ma and Jin Xu},
journal = {Communications Biology},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1038/s42003-026-10544-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10544-x},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Single-cell long-read profiling of olfactory sensory neuron differentiation and diversity
AU - Yicong Xu
AU - Jiawen Yang
AU - Wasiyu Yuan
AU - Tao Xu
AU - Peiyu Shi
AU - Tingting Huang
AU - Qing Ma
AU - Jin Xu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/24
JO - Communications Biology
DO - 10.1038/s42003-026-10544-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10544-x
AB - Olfactory sensory neurons comprise a population of highly heterogeneous subtypes. One important mechanism contributing to neuronal diversity is post-transcriptional regulation, in which isoform heterogeneity is an important component. Comprehensive profiling of transcript isoforms in olfactory sensory neurons is therefore essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying their diversity. By integrating single-cell long-read sequencing with conventional 3’ RNA sequencing, we demonstrated that these neurons contain extensive isoform diversity. We identified widespread UTR remodeling and isoform switching associated with developmental stage and spatial projection pattern, providing compelling evidence for the crucial regulatory mechanism underlying OSN diversity. Furthermore, we observed co-expression of multiple isoforms from the same olfactory receptor gene within individual olfactory sensory neurons, including some predicted to encode complete transmembrane domains. Together, these data provide a resource and framework for studying how specific isoforms contribute to olfactory sensory neuron identity, axon targeting, and the maintenance of singular olfactory receptor expression.
SN - 2399-3642
ER -