Visualization and analysis of gene expression in tissue sections by spatial transcriptomics

TLDR

RNA‑seq methods can record gene expression within and among cells, but they typically lose spatial information and require laborious single‑cell isolation. They developed a spatial transcriptomics technique that anneals bar‑coded primers to fixed tissue, performs reverse transcription, sequencing, and computational reconstruction to map multiple transcripts. Ståhl et al., Science, this issue p.

Abstract

Spatial structure of RNA expression RNA-seq and similar methods can record gene expression within and among cells. Current methods typically lose positional information and many require arduous single-cell isolation and sequencing. Ståhl et al. have developed a way of measuring the spatial distribution of transcripts by annealing fixed brain or cancer tissue samples directly to bar-coded reverse transcriptase primers, performing reverse transcription followed by sequencing and computational reconstruction, and they can do so for multiple genes. Science , this issue p. 78