Abstract

Muscle stem cells (MuSCs) also called satellite cells are the building blocks of skeletal muscle, the largest tissue in the human body which is formed primarily of myofibers. While MuSCs are the principal cells that directly contribute to the formation of the muscle fibers, their ability to do so depends on critical interactions with a vast array of nonmyogenic cells within their niche environment. Therefore, understanding the nature of communication between MuSCs and their niche is of key importance to understand how the skeletal muscle is maintained and regenerated after injury. MuSCs are rare and therefore difficult to study in vivo within the context of their niche environment. The advent of single-cell technologies, such as switching mechanism at 5’ end of the RNA template (SMART) and tagmentation based technologies using hyperactive transposase, afford the unprecedented opportunity to perform whole transcriptome and epigenome studies on rare cells within their niche environment. In this review, we will delve into how single-cell technologies can be applied to the study of MuSCs and muscle-resident niche cells and the impact this can have on our understanding of MuSC biology and skeletal muscle regeneration.

摘要

肌肉干细胞 (MuSC) 也称为卫星细胞，是骨骼肌的组成部分，骨骼肌是人体中最大的组织，主要由肌纤维形成。虽然 MuSCs 是直接促进肌肉纤维形成的主要细胞，但它们这样做的能力取决于与其生态位环境中大量非生肌细胞的关键相互作用。因此，了解 MuSC 与其生态位之间通信的性质对于了解骨骼肌在受伤后如何维持和再生至关重要。MuSC 很少见，因此难以在体内进行研究在他们的利基环境的背景下。单细胞技术的出现，例如 RNA 模板 5' 端的转换机制 (SMART) 和使用高活性转座酶的基于标记的技术，为在其生态位环境中对稀有细胞进行全转录组和表观基因组研究提供了前所未有的机会。在这篇综述中，我们将深入探讨如何将单细胞技术应用于 MuSC 和肌肉驻留生态位细胞的研究，以及这对我们对 MuSC 生物学和骨骼肌再生的理解的影响。