In this week's Nature Methods, a Broad Institute-led team reports a new high-throughput approach for single-nucleus RNA sequencing (sNuc-seq). Called DroNc-seq, the technique combines sNuc-seq with droplet technology to enable profiling of nuclei at low cost and high throughput. The researchers describe using their method to profile 39,111 nuclei from mouse and human archived brain samples, demonstrating "sensitive, efficient, and unbiased classification of cell types, paving the way for systematic charting of cell atlases."
The Scan's sister publication, GenomeWeb Daily News, has more on this study here.
And in Nature Ecology & Evolution, investigators from Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University present a genomic analysis of the Lyme disease bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, offering new insights into the spread of Lyme disease in North America. The researchers collected ticks from across the US and southern Canada from 1984 to 2013, and sequenced 146 B. burgdorferi s.s. genomes. They show that the bacterium has "a complex evolutionary history with previously undocumented levels of migration," and that its diversity is ancient. "This means the recent emergence of human Lyme disease probably reflects ecological change … rather than evolutionary change of the bacterium," the authors write.
GenomeWeb Daily News has more on this study here.