Review: Challenges and perspectives in applying single nuclei RNA-seq technology in plant biology

Plant single-cell RNA-seq technology quantifies the abundance of plant transcripts at a single-cell resolution. Deciphering the transcriptomes of each plant cell, their regulation during plant cell development, and their response to environmental stresses will support the functional study of genes, the establishment of precise transcriptional programs, the prediction of more accurate gene regulatory networks, and, in the long term, the design of de novo gene pathways to enhance selected crop traits. In this review, we will discuss the opportunities, challenges, and problems, and share tentative solutions associated with the generation and analysis of plant single-cell transcriptomes. We will discuss the benefit and limitations of using plant protoplasts vs. nuclei to conduct single-cell RNA-seq experiments on various plant species and organs, the functional annotation of plant cell types based on their transcriptomic profile, the characterization of the dynamic regulation of the plant genes during cell development or in response to environmental stress, the need to characterize and integrate additional layers of -omics datasets to capture new molecular modalities at the single-cell level and reveal their causalities, the deposition and access to single-cell datasets, and the accessibility of this technology to plant scientists.

Automated summary

Plant single-cell RNA-seq technology quantifies the abundance of plant transcripts at a single-cell resolution, which is crucial for studying gene function, establishing precise transcriptional programs, predicting gene regulatory networks, and designing gene pathways to improve crop traits. This review discusses the opportunities, challenges, and problems associated with generating and analyzing plant single-cell transcriptomes, including the use of plant protoplasts vs. nuclei, functional annotation of plant cell types, dynamic regulation of plant genes, integration of -omics datasets, deposition and access to single-cell datasets, and accessibility of this technology to plant scientists.