Transcriptional profiling at whole population and single cell levels reveals somatosensory neuron molecular diversity Chiu, Isaac M. Barrett, Lee B. Williams, Erika K. Strochlic, David E. Lee, Seungkyu Weyer, Andy D. Lou, Shan Bryman, Gregory S. Roberson, David P. Ghasemlou, Nader Piccoli, Cara Ahat, Ezgi Wang, Victor Cobos del Moral, Enrique José Stucky, Cheryl L. Ma, Qiufu Liberles, Stephen D. Woolf, Clifford J. Subtype specific genes Dorsal root ganglia Nociceptive neurons Neuropathic pain Sensory neurons The somatosensory nervous system is critical for the organism's ability to respond to mechanical, thermal, and nociceptive stimuli. Somatosensory neurons are functionally and anatomically diverse but their molecular profiles are not well-defined. Here, we used transcriptional profiling to analyze the detailed molecular signatures of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons. We used two mouse reporter lines and surface IB4 labeling to purify three major non-overlapping classes of neurons: 1) IB4+SNS-Cre/TdTomato+, 2) IB4−SNS-Cre/TdTomato+, and 3) Parv-Cre/TdTomato+ cells, encompassing the majority of nociceptive, pruriceptive, and proprioceptive neurons. These neurons displayed distinct expression patterns of ion channels, transcription factors, and GPCRs. Highly parallel qRT-PCR analysis of 334 single neurons selected by membership of the three populations demonstrated further diversity, with unbiased clustering analysis identifying six distinct subgroups. These data significantly increase our knowledge of the molecular identities of known DRG populations and uncover potentially novel subsets, revealing the complexity and diversity of those neurons underlying somatosensation. 2015-02-16T12:56:51Z 2015-02-16T12:56:51Z 2014 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Chiu, I.M.; et al. Transcriptional profiling at whole population and single cell levels reveals somatosensory neuron molecular diversity. Elife, 3: 04660 (2014). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/34825] 2050-084X http://hdl.handle.net/10481/34825 10.7554/eLife.04660 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License eLife Sciences