mRNA-Seq Whole Transcriptome Analysis of a Single Cell

Here we modified a single cell whole transcriptome amplification method to make it capable of amplifying cDNAs as long as 3kb efficiently and unbiasedly. We combined this modified single cell cDNA amplification method with Applied Biosystems next generation sequencing SOLiD™ System to set up a single cell whole transcriptome assay. The modified amplification strategy allows us to amplify full-length cDNAs for most of the expressed genes. We show that it is feasible to get digital gene expression profiles at single cell resolution. This allows us to ask fundamental biological questions that could not be addressed previously, especially in the early embryonic development field, and to understand transcriptome complexity at the resolution of a single cell. gene expression profiling from two single wild-type oocytes, two single Dicer knockout oocyte, and one single Ago2 knockout oocyte