Deciphering the cellular heterogeneity of the insect brainwith single-cell RNA sequencing

作     者：Xiaofei Wang Yifan Zhai Hao Zheng 

作者机构：Institute of Plant ProtectionShandong Academy of Agricultural SciencesJinanChina College of Food Science and Nutritional En-gineeringChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina Key Laboratory of Natural Enemies InsectsMinistry of Agriculture and RuralAffairsJinanChina Shandong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center on Biocontrol of Crops Diseases and In-sectPestsJinanChina 

出 版 物：《Insect Science》 (昆虫科学（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2024年第31卷第2期

页      面：314-327页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 07[理学] 09[农学] 0904[农学-植物保护] 0901[农学-作物学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural ScienceFoundation of China Project 32170495 

主　　题：behavior brain cell type insect single-cell RNA sequencing 

摘      要：Insects show highly complicated adaptive and sophisticated behaviors, includ-ing spatial orientation skills, learning ability, and social interaction. These behaviors arecontrolled by the insect brain, the central part of the nervous system. The tiny insect brainconsists of millions of highly differentiated and interconnected cells forming a complexnetwork. Decades of research has gone into an understanding of which parts of the insectbrain possess particular behaviors, but exactly how they modulate these functional conse-quences needs to be clarified. Detailed description of the brain and behavior is required todecipher the complexity of cell types, as well as their connectivity and function. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) has emerged recently as a breakthrough technologyto understand the transcriptome at cellular resolution. With scRNA-seq, it is possible touncover the cellular heterogeneity of brain cells and elucidate their specific functions andstate. In this review, we first review the basic structure of insect brains and the links toinsect behaviors mainly focusing on learning and memory. Then the scRNA applicationson insect brains are introduced by representative studies. Single-cell RNA-seq has allowedresearchers to classify cell subpopulations within different insect brain regions, pinpointsingle-cell developmental trajectories, and identify gene regulatory networks. These devel-opments empower the advances in neuroscience and shed light on the intricate problemsin understanding insect brain functions and behaviors.