Comprehensive characterization of transcript isoform in mouse retina with ONT long read single-cell RNA sequencing

The retina, a complex neural tissue, encompasses a vast diversity of over 100 distinct cell types, each characterized by unique features such as morphology, function, location, and transcriptomic profiles. However, the extent of mRNA alternative splicing within individual cell types in the retina remains largely uncharted territory. To bridge this knowledge gap, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing, utilizing both short-read and long-read high-throughput technologies. Our comprehensive analysis profiled the transcriptomes of 29,191 mouse retina cells, resulting in a dataset comprising 1.54 billion Illumina short reads and 1.40 billion Oxford Nanopore long reads. Remarkably, this exploration unveiled a staggering 44,325 transcript isoforms, with 38% of them representing entirely novel discoveries and 17% exhibiting cell-class-specific expression patterns. Intriguingly, while many isoforms were expressed across various cell types, their distribution often displayed variability among them. This research substantially enriches the catalog of transcript isoforms, laying the groundwork for further investigations into the role of alternative splicing in retinal biology and its implications for related diseases. It represents a crucial step toward unraveling the intricacies of retinal function and offers promising insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying retinal disorders.