Single-cell sequencing: New insights into pre-implantation development, pluripotency, and germ cells

Early mammalian embryonic development is a complex,dynamic,and heterogeneous process.Although numerous efforts have been made to delineate the mechanism underlying embryonic development,many questions still remain unanswered because of the scarcity of available human materials and the minute amounts of DNA and RNA.In recently years,technical developments in high-throughput single cell sequencing have revolutionized biology and provided a novel and powerful tool to investigate the dynamics of early embryo development in a quantitative and systematic manner.Gene expression networks,epigenetic modification(including DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility),and genetic variation can be recorded simultaneously in a single cell at single base resolution.The present review highlights how the single cell sequencing has provided new insights into mammalian pre-implantation development,embryonic stem cell biology,and germline development.