In recent years, in order to elucidate the pathogenesis of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, lifestyle-related diseases, and other diseases, develop new drugs, and even develop preventive methods, the development of technologies to obtain information on all biomolecules expressed in the cells that cause these diseases (omics information) has attracted attention. In particular, for the development of new medical technologies required to realize a healthy and long-lived society, it is necessary to acquire omics information on individual cells, rather than the conventional acquisition of information on a bulk cell population. The technology to analyze RNA expression in each cell (scRNA-seq method) is not only for basic research but also for the development of new medical technologies. (scRNA-seq) is widely used around the world not only for basic research but also for the development of new medicines.

However, the conventional scRNA-seq method can analyze only intracellular RNA expression and cannot directly analyze information on glycans, which are biomolecules localized on the cell surface. Because of the large diversity and branched structure of glycans, analysis of glycans requires a great deal of time and effort, and it has been difficult to analyze a large number of samples quickly. For this reason, glycans have not been fully utilized in drug discovery and healthcare.

Researchers at AIST, in collaboration with the University of Tsukuba, have developed a droplet-type single-cell glycan-RNA sequencing method (droplet-type scGR-seq method) for simultaneous analysis of glycans and RNAs expressed in each of approximately 10,000 cells isolated from tissues and other sources using a next-generation sequencer. We have developed a droplet-type scGR-seq method.

Cell surface glycans are used as drug targets for various diseases and for quality control of cells for regenerative medicine. In the past, we developed a technique to react multiple cells with lectins (sugar-binding proteins) labeled with DNA barcodes, separate each cell into microcentrifuge tubes, and acquire information on the expression of extracellular glycans and intracellular RNA in each cell using a next-generation sequencer. However, the number of cells that can be analyzed in a single experiment is limited to several hundred by the conventional plate-type method in which one cell is dispensed into a microcentrifuge tube. With the introduction of the droplet technology, approximately 10,000 cells can be analyzed in a single experiment, a 100-fold increase in the number of cells that can be processed compared to the conventional method. This enables more comprehensive analysis of the differences between different cell types and the diversity of cell surface glycans within the same cell type, as well as the rapid acquisition of information on rare cells that contain only a small number of cells.