Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Mononuclear Cell Populations in Skeletal Muscle

Skeletal muscle possesses a remarkable regenerative capacity, mainly relying on a population of undifferentiated and unipotent muscle progenitors, called muscle stem cells (MuSCs) or satellite cells, and their interplay with various cell types within the niche. Investigating the cellular composition of skeletal muscle tissues and the heterogeneity among various cell populations is crucial to the unbiased understanding of how cellular networks work in harmony at the population level in the context of skeletal muscle homeostasis, regeneration, aging, and diseases. As opposed to probing the average profile in a cell population, single-cell RNA-seq has unlocked access to the transcriptomic landscape characterization of individual cells in a highly parallel manner. This chapter describes the workflow for single-cell transcriptomic analysis of mononuclear cells in skeletal muscle by taking advantage of the droplet-based single-cell RNA-seq platform, Chromium Single Cell 3' solution from 10x Genomics®. Using this protocol, we can reveal insights into muscle-resident cell-type identities, which can be exploited to study the muscle stem cell niche further.