Tissue-specific smooth muscle cell subtypes identified by transcriptional profiling

Abstract

Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are specialized cells present in many organs where they serve diverse tissue-specific functions. Using the Tabula Muris compendium of single-cell RNA sequencing data, we extracted individual SMC transcriptomes from eight mouse tissues to investigate the transcriptomic landscape of tissue-specific SMCs. We identified marker genes, signaling pathways, and biological processes enriched in tissue-specific SMCs, and inferred potential ligand-receptor interaction between SMC and other cell types. Our analysis also identified sex differences in SMC gene expression in different tissues. Lastly, we used unsupervised clustering to identify novel SMC subtypes based on their downstream targets of transcription factors. Our results highlight the variable SMC phenotypes and underscore this cell's remarkable adaptability to contribute to diverse tissue function.

Keywords: Extracellular matrix; Single cell RNA sequencing; Smooth muscle cell; Tabula Muris project; Transcriptomics.