Advances in single-cell multi-omics profiling

Abstract

Single-cell profiling methods are developed to dissect heterogeneity of cell populations. Recently, multiple enzymatic or chemical treatments have been integrated into single-cell multi-omics profiling methods with high compatibility. These methods have been verified to identify rare or new cell types with high confidence. Single-cell multi-omics analysis can also provide tools to solve the complex regulatory network associated with genome coding, epigenome regulation, and transcripotome expression in a single cell. However, acquiring high-quality single-cell data still faces inherent technical challenges, and co-assays with some other layers of cell identify such as transcription factors binding, histone modifications etc., profiles need new technological breakthroughs to facilitate a more thorough understanding of a single cell. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of single-cell multi-omics methods and discuss the challenges and opportunities in this filed.