Single cell combinatorial indexing RNA sequencing (sci-RNA-seq) is a powerful method for recovering gene expression data from an exponentially scalable number of individual cells or nuclei. However, sci-RNA-seq is a complex protocol that has historically exhibited variable performance on different tissues, as well as lower sensitivity than alternative methods. Here we report a simplified, optimized version of the three-level sci-RNA-seq protocol that is faster, higher yield, more robust, and more sensitive, than the original sci-RNA-seq3 protocol, with reagent costs on the order of 1 cent per cell or less. We showcase the optimized protocol via whole organism analysis of an E16.5 mouse embryo, profiling ~380,000 nuclei in a single experiment. Finally, we introduce a "tiny sci-*" protocol for experiments where input is extremely limited.
@article{arxiv.2110.15400,
title = {An optimized protocol for single cell transcriptional profiling by combinatorial indexing},
author = {Beth K. Martin and Chengxiang Qiu and Eva Nichols and Melissa Phung and Rula Green-Gladden and Sanjay Srivatsan and Ronnie Blecher-Gonen and Brian J. Beliveau and Cole Trapnell and Junyue Cao and Jay Shendure},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.15400},
year = {2022}
}