Subcellular level spatial transcriptomics with PHOTON

Abstract The subcellular localization of RNA is closely linked to its function. Many RNA species are partitioned into organelles and other subcellular compartments for storage, processing, translation, or degradation. Thus, capturing the subcellular spatial distribution of RNA would directly contrib...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shreya Rajachandran, Qianlan Xu, Qiqi Cao, Xin Zhang, Fei Chen, Sarah M. Mangiameli, Haiqi Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59801-3
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract The subcellular localization of RNA is closely linked to its function. Many RNA species are partitioned into organelles and other subcellular compartments for storage, processing, translation, or degradation. Thus, capturing the subcellular spatial distribution of RNA would directly contribute to the understanding of RNA functions and regulation. Here, we present PHOTON, a method which combines high resolution imaging with high throughput sequencing to achieve spatial transcriptome profiling at subcellular resolution. We demonstrate PHOTON as a versatile tool to accurately capture the transcriptome of target cell types in situ at the tissue level such as granulosa cells in the ovary, as well as RNA content within subcellular compartments such as the nucleoli, the mitochondria, and the stress granules. Using PHOTON, we also reveal the functional role of m6A modifications on mRNA partitioning into stress granules. These results collectively demonstrate that PHOTON is a flexible and generalizable platform for understanding subcellular molecular dynamics through the transcriptomic lens.
ISSN:2041-1723