Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is carried out in two main steps: the wet-lab workflow and the subsequent digital analysis of the generated data. A high-quality suspension of single cells or nuclei is critical to the success of the experiment. Once prepared, this suspension is loaded into a microfluidic chip, where cells or nuclei are partitioned into emulsions and uniquely barcoded using Gel Beads-in-Emulsions (GEMs). Each GEM functions as an individual reaction droplet, and the barcoded fragments are used for downstream library construction.
The Chromium instrument facilitates the conversion of each mRNA molecule into a sequencing-ready library.
Equally important and fascinating is the computational analysis, which involves cell annotation, clustering, and differential gene expression analysis to extract meaningful biological insights.
