Construction of thousands of single cell genome sequencing libraries using combinatorial indexing

Abstract Single cell genome sequencing has proven to be a valuable tool for the detection of somatic variation, particularly in the context of tumor evolution and neuronal heterogeneity. Current technologies suffer from high per-cell library construction costs which restrict the number of cells that can be assessed, thus imposing limitations on the ability to quantitatively measure genomic heterogeneity within a tissue. Here, we present Single cell Combinatorial Indexed Sequencing (SCI-seq) as a means of simultaneously generating thousands of low-pass single cell libraries for the purpose of somatic copy number variant detection. In total, we constructed libraries for 16,698 single cells from a combination of cultured cell lines, frontal cortex tissue from Macaca mulatta , and two human adenocarcinomas. This novel technology provides the opportunity for low-cost, deep characterization of somatic copy number variation in single cells, providing a foundational knowledge across both healthy and diseased tissues.