Patent Application
20240002837
Significant advances in analyzing and characterizing biological and biochemical materials and systems have led to unprecedented advances in understanding the mechanisms of life, health, disease and treatment. Among these advances, technologies that target and characterize the genomic make up of biological systems have yielded some of the most groundbreaking results, including advances in the use and exploitation of genetic amplification technologies, and nucleic acid sequencing technologies.
Nucleic acid sequencing can be used to obtain information in a wide variety of biomedical contexts, including diagnostics, prognostics, biotechnology, and forensic biology. Sequencing may involve basic methods including Maxam-Gilbert sequencing and chain-termination methods, or de novo sequencing methods including shotgun sequencing and bridge PCR, or next-generation methods including polony sequencing, 454 pyrosequencing, Illumina sequencing, SOLiD sequencing, Ion Torrent semiconductor sequencing, HeliScope single molecule sequencing, SMRT® sequencing, and others.
Despite these advances in biological characterization, many challenges still remain unaddressed, or relatively poorly addressed by the solutions currently being offered. The present disclosure provides novel solutions and approaches to addressing many of the shortcomings of existing technologies.
Provided herein are methods, compositions and systems for analyzing individual cells or small populations of cells, including the analysis and attribution of nucleic acids from and to these individual cells or cell populations.
An aspect of the disclosure provides a method of analyzing nucleic acids from cells that includes providing nucleic acids derived from an individual cell into a discrete partition; generating one or more first nucleic acid sequences derived from the nucleic acids within the discrete partition, which one or more first nucleic acid sequences have attached thereto oligonucleotides that comprise a common nucleic acid barcode sequence; generating a characterization of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences or one or more second nucleic acid sequences derived from the one or more first nucleic acid sequences, which one or more second nucleic acid sequences comprise the common barcode sequence; and identifying the one or more first nucleic acid sequences or one or more second nucleic acid sequences as being derived from the individual cell based, at least in part, upon a presence of the common nucleic acid barcode sequence in the generated characterization.
In some embodiments, the discrete partition is a discrete droplet. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides are co-partitioned with the nucleic acids derived from the individual cell into the discrete partition. In some embodiments, at least 10,000, at least 100,000 or at least 500,000 of the oligonucleotides are co-partitioned with the nucleic acids derived from the individual cell into the discrete partition.
In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides are provided attached to a bead, where each oligonucleotide on a bead comprises the same barcode sequence, and the bead is co-partitioned with the individual cell into the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides are releasably attached to the bead. In some embodiments, the bead comprises a degradable bead. In some embodiments, prior to or during generating the one or more first nucleic acid sequences the method includes releasing the oligonucleotides from the bead via degradation of the bead. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes releasing the one or more first nucleic acid sequences from the discrete partition.
In some embodiments, generating the characterization comprises sequencing the one or more first nucleic acid sequences or the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. The method may also include assembling a contiguous nucleic acid sequence for at least a portion of a genome of the individual cell from sequences of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences or the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. Moreover, the method may also include characterizing the individual cell based upon the nucleic acid sequence for at least a portion of the genome of the individual cell.
In some embodiments, the nucleic acids are released from the individual cell in the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the nucleic acids comprise ribonucleic acid (RNA), such as, for example, messenger RNA (mRNA). In some embodiments, generating one or more first nucleic acid sequences includes subjecting the nucleic acids to reverse transcription under conditions that yield the one or more first nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the reverse transcription occurs in the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides are provided in the discrete partition and include a poly-T sequence. In some embodiments, the reverse transcription comprises hybridizing the poly-T sequence to at least a portion of each of the nucleic acids and extending the poly-T sequence in template directed fashion. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides include an anchoring sequence that facilitates hybridization of the poly-T sequence. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides include a random priming sequence that can be, for example, a random hexamer. In some embodiments, the reverse transcription comprises hybridizing the random priming sequence to at least a portion of each of the nucleic acids and extending the random priming sequence in template directed fashion.
In some embodiments, a given one of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences has sequence complementarity to at least a portion of a given one of the nucleic acids. In some embodiments, the discrete partition at most includes the individual cell among a plurality of cells. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides include a unique molecular sequence segment. In some embodiments, the method can include identifying an individual nucleic acid sequence of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences or of the one or more second nucleic acid sequences as derived from a given nucleic acid of the nucleic acids based, at least in part, upon a presence of the unique molecular sequence segment. In some embodiments, the method includes determining an amount of the given nucleic acid based upon a presence of the unique molecular sequence segment.
In some embodiments, the method includes, prior to generating the characterization, adding one or more additional sequences to the one or more first nucleic acid sequences to generate the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the method includes adding a first additional nucleic acid sequence to the one or more first nucleic acid sequences with the aid of a switch oligonucleotide. In some embodiments, the switch oligonucleotide hybridizes to at least a portion of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences and is extended in a template directed fashion to couple the first additional nucleic acid sequence to the one or more first nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the method includes amplifying the one of more first nucleic acid sequences coupled to the first additional nucleic acid sequence. In some embodiments, the amplifying occurs in the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the amplifying occurs after releasing the one or more first nucleic acid sequences coupled to the first additional nucleic acid sequence from the discrete partition.
In some embodiments, after the amplifying, the method includes adding one or more second additional nucleic acid sequences to the one or more first nucleic acid sequences coupled to the first additional sequence to generate the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the adding the one or more second additional sequences includes removing a portion of each of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences coupled to the first additional nucleic acid sequence and coupling thereto the one or more second additional nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the removing is completed via shearing of the one or more first nucleic acid sequences coupled (e.g., ligated) to the first additional nucleic acid sequence.
In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes subjecting the one or more first nucleic acid sequences to transcription to generate one or more RNA fragments. In some embodiments, the transcription occurs after releasing the one or more first nucleic acid sequences from the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides include a T7 promoter sequence. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes removing a portion of each of the one or more RNA sequences and coupling an additional sequence to the one or more RNA sequences. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes subjecting the one or more RNA sequences coupled to the additional sequence to reverse transcription to generate the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes amplifying the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes subjecting the one or more RNA sequences to reverse transcription to generate one or more DNA sequences. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes removing a portion of each of the one or more DNA sequences and coupling one or more additional sequences to the one or more DNA sequences to generate the one or more second nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, prior to generating the characterization, the method includes amplifying the one or more second nucleic acid sequences.
In some embodiments, the nucleic acids include complementary (cDNA) generated from reverse transcription of RNA from the individual cell. In some embodiments, the oligonucleotides include a priming sequence and are provided in the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the priming sequence includes a random N-mer. In some embodiments, generating the one or more first nucleic acid sequences includes hybridizing the priming sequence to the cDNA and extending the priming sequence in template directed fashion.
In some embodiments, the discrete partition includes switch oligonucleotides comprising a complement sequence of the oligonucleotides. In some embodiments, generating the one or more first nucleic acid sequences includes hybridizing the switch oligonucleotides to at least a portion of nucleic acid fragments derived from the nucleic acids and extending the switch oligonucleotides in template directed fashion. In some embodiments, generating the one or more first nucleic acid sequences includes attaching the oligonucleotides to the one or more first nucleic acid sequences. In some embodiments, the one or more first nucleic acid sequences are nucleic acid fragments derived from the nucleic acids. In some embodiments, generating the one or more first nucleic acid sequences includes coupling (e.g., ligating) the oligonucleotides to the nucleic acids.
In some embodiments, a plurality of partitions comprises the discrete partition. In some embodiments, the plurality of partitions, on average, comprises less than one cell per partition. In some embodiments, less than 25% of partitions of the plurality of partitions do not comprise a cell. In some embodiments, the plurality of partitions comprises discrete partitions each having at least one partitioned cell. In some embodiments, fewer than 25%, fewer than 20%, fewer than 15%, fewer than 10%, fewer than 5% or fewer than 1% of the discrete partitions comprise more than one cell. In some embodiments, at least a subset of the discrete partitions comprises a bead. In some embodiments, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 95% or at least 99% of the discrete partitions comprise at least one cell and at least one bead. In some embodiments, the discrete partitions include partitioned nucleic acid barcode sequences. In some embodiments, the discrete partitions include at least 1,000, at least 10,000, or at least 100,000 different partitioned nucleic acid barcode sequences. In some embodiments, the plurality of partitions comprises at least 1,000, at least 10,000 or at least 100,000 partitions.
In another aspect, the disclosure provides a method of characterizing cells in a population of a plurality of different cell types that includes providing nucleic acids from individual cells in the population into discrete partitions; attaching oligonucleotides that comprise a common nucleic acid barcode sequence to one or more fragments of the nucleic acids from the individual cells within the discrete partitions, where a plurality of different partitions comprise different common nucleic acid barcode sequences; and characterizing the one or more fragments of the nucleic acids from the plurality of discrete partitions, and attributing the one or more fragments to individual cells based, at least in part, upon the presence of a common barcode sequence; and characterizing a plurality of individual cells in the population based upon the characterization of the one or more fragments in the plurality of discrete partitions.
In some embodiments, the method includes fragmenting the nucleic acids. In some embodiments, the discrete partitions are droplets. In some embodiments, the characterizing the one or more fragments of the nucleic acids includes sequencing ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid from the individual cells, and the characterizing the cells comprises identifying a cell genus, species, strain or variant. In some embodiments, the individual cells are derived from a microbiome sample. In some embodiments, the individual cells are derived from a human tissue sample. In some embodiments, the individual cells are derived from circulating cells in a mammal. In some embodiments, the individual cells are derived from a forensic sample. In some embodiments, the nucleic acids are released from the individual cells in the discrete partitions.
An additional aspect of the disclosure provides a method of characterizing an individual cell or population of cells that includes incubating a cell with a plurality of different cell surface feature binding group types, where each different cell surface binding group type is capable of binding to a different cell surface feature, and where each different cell surface binding group type comprises a reporter oligonucleotide associated therewith, under conditions that allow binding between one or more cell surface feature binding groups and its respective cell surface feature, if present; partitioning the cell into a partition that comprises a plurality of oligonucleotides comprising a barcode sequence; attaching the barcode sequence to oligonucleotide reporter groups present in the partition; sequencing the oligonucleotide reporter groups and attached barcodes; and characterizing cell surface features present on the cell based upon reporter oligonucleotides that are sequenced.
An additional aspect of the disclosure provides a composition comprising a plurality of partitions, each of the plurality of partitions comprising an individual cell and a population of oligonucleotides that comprise a common nucleic acid barcode sequence. In some embodiments, the plurality of partitions comprises droplets in an emulsion. In some embodiments, the population of oligonucleotides within each of the plurality of partitions is coupled to a bead disposed within each of the plurality of partitions. In some embodiments, the individual cell has associated therewith a plurality of different cell surface feature binding groups associated with their respective cell surface features and each different type of cell surface feature binding group includes an oligonucleotide reporter group comprising a different nucleotide sequence. In some embodiments, the plurality of different cell surface feature binding groups includes a plurality of different antibodies or antibody fragments having a binding affinity for a plurality of different cell surface features.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein only illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described. As will be realized, the present disclosure is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.
All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. To the extent publications and patents or patent applications incorporated by reference contradict the disclosure contained in the specification, the specification is intended to supersede and/or take precedence over any such contradictory material.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings (also “Figure” and “FIG.” herein), of which:
While various embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed.
Where values are described as ranges, it will be understood that such disclosure includes the disclosure of all possible sub-ranges within such ranges, as well as specific numerical values that fall within such ranges irrespective of whether a specific numerical value or specific sub-range is expressly stated.
Advanced nucleic acid sequencing technologies have yielded monumental results in sequencing biological materials, including providing substantial sequence information on individual organisms, and relatively pure biological samples. However, these systems have not proven effective at being able to identify and characterize sub-populations of cells in biological samples that may represent a smaller minority of the overall make up of the sample, but for which individualized sequence information could prove even more valuable.
Most nucleic acid sequencing technologies derive the nucleic acids that they sequence from collections of cells derived from tissue or other samples. The cells can be processed, en masse, to extract the genetic material that represents an average of the population of cells, which can then be processed into sequencing ready DNA libraries that are configured for a given sequencing technology. As will be appreciated, although often discussed in terms of DNA or nucleic acids, the nucleic acids derived from the cells may include DNA, or RNA, including, e.g., mRNA, total RNA, or the like, that may be processed to produce cDNA for sequencing, e.g., using any of a variety of RNA-seq methods. Following from this processing, absent a cell specific marker, attribution of genetic material as being contributed by a subset of cells or all cells in a sample is virtually impossible in such an ensemble approach.
In addition to the inability to attribute characteristics to particular subsets of populations of cells, such ensemble sample preparation methods also are, from the outset, predisposed to primarily identifying and characterizing the majority constituents in the sample of cells, and are not designed to be able to pick out the minority constituents, e.g., genetic material contributed by one cell, a few cells, or a small percentage of total cells in the sample. Likewise, where analyzing expression levels, e.g., of mRNA, an ensemble approach would be predisposed to presenting potentially grossly inaccurate data from cell populations that are non-homogeneous in terms of expression levels. In some cases, where expression is high in a small minority of the cells in an analyzed population, and absent in the majority of the cells of the population, an ensemble method would indicate low level expression for the entire population.
This original majority bias is further magnified, and even overwhelming, through processing operations used in building up the sequencing libraries from these samples. In particular, most next generation sequencing technologies rely upon the geometric amplification of nucleic acid fragments, such as the polymerase chain reaction, in order to produce sufficient DNA for the sequencing library. However, such geometric amplification is biased toward amplification of majority constituents in a sample, and may not preserve the starting ratios of such minority and majority components. By way of example, if a sample includes 95% DNA from a particular cell type in a sample, e.g., host tissue cells, and 5% DNA from another cell type, e.g., cancer cells, PCR based amplification can preferentially amplify the majority DNA in place of the minority DNA, both as a function of comparative exponential amplification (the repeated doubling of the higher concentration quickly outpaces that of the smaller fraction) and as a function of sequestration of amplification reagents and resources (as the larger fraction is amplified, it preferentially utilizes primers and other amplification reagents).
While some of these difficulties may be addressed by utilizing different sequencing systems, such as single molecule systems that don't require amplification, the single molecule systems, as well as the ensemble sequencing methods of other next generation sequencing systems, can also have requirements for sufficiently large input DNA requirements. In particular, single molecule sequencing systems like the Pacific Biosciences SMRT Sequencing system can have sample input DNA requirements of from 500 nanograms (ng) to upwards of 10 micrograms (m), which is far larger than what can be derived from individual cells or even small subpopulations of cells. Likewise, other NGS systems can be optimized for starting amounts of sample DNA in the sample of from approximately 50 ng to about 1 μg.
Disclosed herein, however, are methods and systems for characterizing nucleic acids from small populations of cells, and in some cases, for characterizing nucleic acids from individual cells, especially in the context of larger populations of cells. The methods and systems provide advantages of being able to provide the attribution advantages of the non-amplified single molecule methods with the high throughput of the other next generation systems, with the additional advantages of being able to process and sequence extremely low amounts of input nucleic acids derivable from individual cells or small collections of cells.
In particular, the methods described herein compartmentalize the analysis of individual cells or small populations of cells, including e.g., nucleic acids from individual cells or small groups of cells, and then allow that analysis to be attributed back to the individual cell or small group of cells from which the nucleic acids were derived. This can be accomplished regardless of whether the cell population represents a 50/50 mix of cell types, a 90/10 mix of cell types, or virtually any ratio of cell types, as well as a complete heterogeneous mix of different cell types, or any mixture between these. Differing cell types may include cells or biologic organisms from different tissue types of an individual, from different individuals, from differing genera, species, strains, variants, or any combination of any or all of the foregoing. For example, differing cell types may include normal and tumor tissue from an individual, multiple different bacterial species, strains and/or variants from environmental, forensic, microbiome or other samples, or any of a variety of other mixtures of cell types.
In one aspect, the methods and systems described herein, provide for the compartmentalization, depositing or partitioning of the nucleic acid contents of individual cells from a sample material containing cells, into discrete compartments or partitions (referred to interchangeably herein as partitions), where each partition maintains separation of its own contents from the contents of other partitions. Unique identifiers, e.g., barcodes, may be previously, subsequently or concurrently delivered to the partitions that hold the compartmentalized or partitioned cells, in order to allow for the later attribution of the characteristics of the individual cells to the particular compartment.
As used herein, in some aspects, the partitions refer to containers or vessels (such as wells, microwells, tubes, through ports in nanoarray substrates, e.g., BioTrove nanoarrays, or other containers). In many some aspects, however, the compartments or partitions comprise partitions that are flowable within fluid streams. These partitions may be comprised of, e.g., microcapsules or micro-vesicles that have an outer barrier surrounding an inner fluid center or core, or they may be a porous matrix that is capable of entraining and/or retaining materials within its matrix. In some aspects, however, these partitions comprise droplets of aqueous fluid within a non-aqueous continuous phase, e.g., an oil phase. A variety of different vessels are described in, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/966,150, filed Aug. 13, 2013, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Likewise, emulsion systems for creating stable droplets in non-aqueous or oil continuous phases are described in detail in, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0105112, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
In the case of droplets in an emulsion, allocating individual cells to discrete partitions may generally be accomplished by introducing a flowing stream of cells in an aqueous fluid into a flowing stream of a non-aqueous fluid, such that droplets are generated at the junction of the two streams. By providing the aqueous cell-containing stream at a certain concentration level of cells, one can control the level of occupancy of the resulting partitions in terms of numbers of cells. In some cases, where single cell partitions are desired, it may be desirable to control the relative flow rates of the fluids such that, on average, the partitions contain less than one cell per partition, in order to ensure that those partitions that are occupied, are primarily singly occupied. Likewise, one may wish to control the flow rate to provide that a higher percentage of partitions are occupied, e.g., allowing for only a small percentage of unoccupied partitions. In some aspects, the flows and channel architectures are controlled as to ensure a desired number of singly occupied partitions, less than a certain level of unoccupied partitions and less than a certain level of multiply occupied partitions.
In many cases, the systems and methods are used to ensure that the substantial majority of occupied partitions (partitions containing one or more microcapsules) include no more than 1 cell per occupied partition. In some cases, the partitioning process is controlled such that fewer than 25% of the occupied partitions contain more than one cell, and in many cases, fewer than 20% of the occupied partitions have more than one cell, while in some cases, fewer than 10% or even fewer than 5% of the occupied partitions include more than one cell per partition.
Additionally or alternatively, in many cases, it is desirable to avoid the creation of excessive numbers of empty partitions. While this may be accomplished by providing sufficient numbers of cells into the partitioning zone, the poissonian distribution would expectedly increase the number of partitions that would include multiple cells. As such, in accordance with aspects described herein, the flow of one or more of the cells, or other fluids directed into the partitioning zone are controlled such that, in many cases, no more than 50% of the generated partitions are unoccupied, i.e., including less than 1 cell, no more than 25% of the generated partitions, no more than 10% of the generated partitions, may be unoccupied. Further, in some aspects, these flows are controlled so as to present non-poissonian distribution of single occupied partitions while providing lower levels of unoccupied partitions. Restated, in some aspects, the above noted ranges of unoccupied partitions can be achieved while still providing any of the single occupancy rates described above. For example, in many cases, the use of the systems and methods described herein creates resulting partitions that have multiple occupancy rates of from less than 25%, less than 20%, less than 15%, less than 10%, and in many cases, less than 5%, while having unoccupied partitions of from less than 50%, less than 40%, less than 30%, less than 20%, less than 10%, and in some cases, less than 5%.
As will be appreciated, the above-described occupancy rates are also applicable to partitions that include both cells and beads carrying the barcode oligonucleotides. In particular, in some aspects, a substantial percentage of the overall occupied partitions will include both a bead and a cell. In particular, it may be desirable to provide that at least 50% of the partitions are occupied by at least one cell and at least one bead, or at least 75% of the partitions may be so occupied, or even at least 80% or at least 90% of the partitions may be so occupied. Further, in those cases where it is desired to provide a single cell and a single bead within a partition, at least 50% of the partitions can be so occupied, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80% or even at least 90% of the partitions can be so occupied.
Although described in terms of providing substantially singly occupied partitions, above, in certain cases, it is desirable to provide multiply occupied partitions, e.g., containing two, three, four or more cells and/or beads within a single partition. Accordingly, as noted above, the flow characteristics of the cell and/or bead containing fluids and partitioning fluids may be controlled to provide for such multiply occupied partitions. In particular, the flow parameters may be controlled to provide a desired occupancy rate at greater than 50% of the partitions, greater than 75%, and in some cases greater than 80%, 90%, 95%, or higher.
Additionally, in many cases, the multiple beads within a single partition may comprise different reagents associated therewith. In such cases, it may be advantageous to introduce different beads into a common channel or droplet generation junction, from different bead sources, i.e., containing different associated reagents, through different channel inlets into such common channel or droplet generation junction. In such cases, the flow and frequency of the different beads into the channel or junction may be controlled to provide for the desired ratio of microcapsules from each source, while ensuring the desired pairing or combination of such beads into a partition with the desired number of cells.
The partitions described herein are often characterized by having extremely small volumes, e.g., less than 10 μL, less than 5 μL, less than 1 μL, less than 900 picoliters (μL), less than 800 μL, less than 700 μL, less than 600 μL, less than 500 μL, less than 400 μL, less than 300 μL, less than 200 μL, less than 100 μL, less than 50 μL, less than 20 μL, less than 10 μL, less than 1 μL, less than 500 nanoliters (nL), or even less than 100 nL, 50 nL, or even less.
For example, in the case of droplet based partitions, the droplets may have overall volumes that are less than 1000 μL, less than 900 μL, less than 800 μL, less than 700 μL, less than 600 μL, less than 500 μL, less than 400 μL, less than 300 μL, less than 200 μL, less than 100 μL, less than 50 μL, less than 20 μL, less than 10 μL, or even less than 1 μL. Where co-partitioned with beads, it will be appreciated that the sample fluid volume, e.g., including co-partitioned cells, within the partitions may be less than 90% of the above described volumes, less than 80%, less than 70%, less than 60%, less than 50%, less than 40%, less than 30%, less than 20%, or even less than 10% the above described volumes.
As is described elsewhere herein, partitioning species may generate a population of partitions. In such cases, any suitable number of partitions can be generated to generate the population of partitions. For example, in a method described herein, a population of partitions may be generated that comprises at least about 1,000 partitions, at least about 5,000 partitions, at least about 10,000 partitions, at least about 50,000 partitions, at least about 100,000 partitions, at least about 500,000 partitions, at least about 1,000,000 partitions, at least about 5,000,000 partitions at least about 10,000,000 partitions, at least about 50,000,000 partitions, at least about 100,000,000 partitions, at least about 500,000,000 partitions or at least about 1,000,000,000 partitions. Moreover, the population of partitions may comprise both unoccupied partitions (e.g., empty partitions) and occupied partitions
In certain cases, microfluidic channel networks are particularly suited for generating partitions as described herein. Examples of such microfluidic devices include those described in detail in Provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 61/977,804, filed Apr. 4, 2014, the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Alternative mechanisms may also be employed in the partitioning of individual cells, including porous membranes through which aqueous mixtures of cells are extruded into non-aqueous fluids. Such systems are generally available from, e.g., Nanomi, Inc.
An example of a simplified microfluidic channel structure for partitioning individual cells is illustrated in
In some aspects, this second fluid 116 comprises an oil, such as a fluorinated oil, that includes a fluorosurfactant for stabilizing the resulting droplets, e.g., inhibiting subsequent coalescence of the resulting droplets. Examples of particularly useful partitioning fluids and fluorosurfactants are described for example, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0105112, the full disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
In other aspects, in addition to or as an alternative to droplet based partitioning, cells may be encapsulated within a microcapsule that comprises an outer shell or layer or porous matrix in which is entrained one or more individual cells or small groups of cells, and may include other reagents. Encapsulation of cells may be carried out by a variety of processes. In general, such processes combine an aqueous fluid containing the cells to be analyzed with a polymeric precursor material that may be capable of being formed into a gel or other solid or semi-solid matrix upon application of a particular stimulus to the polymer precursor. Such stimuli include, e.g., thermal stimuli (either heating or cooling), photo-stimuli (e.g., through photo-curing), chemical stimuli (e.g., through crosslinking, polymerization initiation of the precursor (e.g., through added initiators), or the like.
Preparation of microcapsules comprising cells may be carried out by a variety of methods. For example, air knife droplet or aerosol generators may be used to dispense droplets of precursor fluids into gelling solutions in order to form microcapsules that include individual cells or small groups of cells. Likewise, membrane based encapsulation systems, such as those available from, e.g., Nanomi, Inc., may be used to generate microcapsules as described herein. In some aspects, microfluidic systems like that shown in
For example, in the case where the polymer precursor material comprises a linear polymer material, e.g., a linear polyacrylamide, PEG, or other linear polymeric material, the activation agent may comprise a cross-linking agent, or a chemical that activates a cross-linking agent within the formed droplets. Likewise, for polymer precursors that comprise polymerizable monomers, the activation agent may comprise a polymerization initiator. For example, in certain cases, where the polymer precursor comprises a mixture of acrylamide monomer with a N,N′-bis-(acryloyl)cystamine (BAC) comonomer, an agent such as tetraethylmethylenediamine (TEMED) may be provided within the second fluid streams in channel segments 104 and 106, which initiates the copolymerization of the acrylamide and BAC into a cross-linked polymer network or, hydrogel.
Upon contact of the second fluid stream 116 with the first fluid stream 112 at junction 110 in the formation of droplets, the TEMED may diffuse from the second fluid 116 into the aqueous first fluid 112 comprising the linear polyacrylamide, which will activate the crosslinking of the polyacrylamide within the droplets, resulting in the formation of the gel, e.g., hydrogel, microcapsules 118, as solid or semi-solid beads or particles entraining the cells 114. Although described in terms of polyacrylamide encapsulation, other ‘activatable’ encapsulation compositions may also be employed in the context of the methods and compositions described herein. For example, formation of alginate droplets followed by exposure to divalent metal ions, e.g., Ca2+, can be used as an encapsulation process using the described processes. Likewise, agarose droplets may also be transformed into capsules through temperature based gelling, e.g., upon cooling, or the like. As will be appreciated, in some cases, encapsulated cells can be selectively releasable from the microcapsule, e.g., through passage of time, or upon application of a particular stimulus, that degrades the microcapsule sufficiently to allow the cell, or its contents to be released from the microcapsule, e.g., into an additional partition, such as a droplet. For example, in the case of the polyacrylamide polymer described above, degradation of the microcapsule may be accomplished through the introduction of an appropriate reducing agent, such as DTT or the like, to cleave disulfide bonds that cross link the polymer matrix (See, e.g., U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/940,318, filed Feb. 7, 2014, 61/991,018, Filed May 9, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/316,383, filed Jun. 26, 2014, the full disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
As will be appreciated, encapsulated cells or cell populations provide certain potential advantages of being storable, and more portable than droplet based partitioned cells. Furthermore, in some cases, it may be desirable to allow cells to be analyzed to incubate for a select period of time, in order to characterize changes in such cells over time, either in the presence or absence of different stimuli. In such cases, encapsulation of individual cells may allow for longer incubation than simple partitioning in emulsion droplets, although in some cases, droplet partitioned cells may also be incubated form different periods of time, e.g., at least 10 seconds, at least 30 seconds, at least 1 minute, at least 5 minutes, at least 10 minutes, at least 30 minutes, at least 1 hour, at least 2 hours, at least 5 hours, or at least 10 hours or more. As alluded to above, the encapsulation of cells may constitute the partitioning of the cells into which other reagents are co-partitioned. Alternatively, encapsulated cells may be readily deposited into other partitions, e.g., droplets, as described above.
In accordance with certain aspects, the cells may be partitioned along with lysis reagents in order to release the contents of the cells within the partition. In such cases, the lysis agents can be contacted with the cell suspension concurrently with, or immediately prior to the introduction of the cells into the partitioning junction/droplet generation zone, e.g., through an additional channel or channels upstream of channel junction 110. Examples of lysis agents include bioactive reagents, such as lysis enzymes that are used for lysis of different cell types, e.g., gram positive or negative bacteria, plants, yeast, mammalian, etc., such as lysozymes, achromopeptidase, lysostaphin, labiase, kitalase, lyticase, and a variety of other lysis enzymes available from, e.g., Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. (St Louis, MO), as well as other commercially available lysis enzymes. Other lysis agents may additionally or alternatively be co-partitioned with the cells to cause the release of the cell's contents into the partitions. For example, in some cases, surfactant based lysis solutions may be used to lyse cells, although these may be less desirable for emulsion based systems where the surfactants can interfere with stable emulsions. In some cases, lysis solutions may include non-ionic surfactants such as, for example, TritonX-100 and Tween 20. In some cases, lysis solutions may include ionic surfactants such as, for example, sarcosyl and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Similarly, lysis methods that employ other methods may be used, such as electroporation, thermal, acoustic or mechanical cellular disruption may also be used in certain cases, e.g., non-emulsion based partitioning such as encapsulation of cells that may be in addition to or in place of droplet partitioning, where any pore size of the encapsulate is sufficiently small to retain nucleic acid fragments of a desired size, following cellular disruption.
In addition to the lysis agents co-partitioned with the cells described above, other reagents can also be co-partitioned with the cells, including, for example, DNase and RNase inactivating agents or inhibitors, such as proteinase K, chelating agents, such as EDTA, and other reagents employed in removing or otherwise reducing negative activity or impact of different cell lysate components on subsequent processing of nucleic acids. In addition, in the case of encapsulated cells, the cells may be exposed to an appropriate stimulus to release the cells or their contents from a co-partitioned microcapsule. For example, in some cases, a chemical stimulus may be co-partitioned along with an encapsulated cell to allow for the degradation of the microcapsule and release of the cell or its contents into the larger partition. In some cases, this stimulus may be the same as the stimulus described elsewhere herein for release of oligonucleotides from their respective bead or partition. In alternative aspects, this may be a different and non-overlapping stimulus, in order to allow an encapsulated cell to be released into a partition at a different time from the release of oligonucleotides into the same partition.
Additional reagents may also be co-partitioned with the cells, such as endonucleases to fragment the cell's DNA, DNA polymerase enzymes and dNTPs used to amplify the cell's nucleic acid fragments and to attach the barcode oligonucleotides to the amplified fragments. Additional reagents may also include reverse transcriptase enzymes, including enzymes with terminal transferase activity, primers and oligonucleotides, and switch oligonucleotides (also referred to herein as “switch oligos”) which can be used for template switching. In some cases, template switching can be used to increase the length of a cDNA. In one example of template switching, cDNA can be generated from reverse transcription of a template, e.g., cellular mRNA, where a reverse transcriptase with terminal transferase activity can add additional nucleotides, e.g., polyC, to the cDNA that are not encoded by the template, such, as at an end of the cDNA. Switch oligos can include sequences complementary to the additional nucleotides, e.g. polyG. The additional nucleotides (e.g., polyC) on the cDNA can hybridize to the sequences complementary to the additional nucleotides (e.g., polyG) on the switch oligo, whereby the switch oligo can be used by the reverse transcriptase as template to further extend the cDNA. Switch oligos may comprise deoxyribonucleic acids, ribonucleic acids, modified nucleic acids including locked nucleic acids (LNA), or any combination.
In some cases, the length of a switch oligo may be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250 nucleotides or longer.
In some cases, the length of a switch oligo may be at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249 or 250 nucleotides or longer.
In some cases, the length of a switch oligo may be at most 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249 or 250 nucleotides.
Once the contents of the cells are released into their respective partitions, the nucleic acids contained therein may be further processed within the partitions. In accordance with the methods and systems described herein, the nucleic acid contents of individual cells are generally provided with unique identifiers such that, upon characterization of those nucleic acids they may be attributed as having been derived from the same cell or cells. The ability to attribute characteristics to individual cells or groups of cells is provided by the assignment of unique identifiers specifically to an individual cell or groups of cells, which is another advantageous aspect of the methods and systems described herein. In particular, unique identifiers, e.g., in the form of nucleic acid barcodes are assigned or associated with individual cells or populations of cells, in order to tag or label the cell's components (and as a result, its characteristics) with the unique identifiers. These unique identifiers are then used to attribute the cell's components and characteristics to an individual cell or group of cells. In some aspects, this is carried out by co-partitioning the individual cells or groups of cells with the unique identifiers. In some aspects, the unique identifiers are provided in the form of oligonucleotides that comprise nucleic acid barcode sequences that may be attached to or otherwise associated with the nucleic acid contents of individual cells, or to other components of the cells, and particularly to fragments of those nucleic acids. The oligonucleotides are partitioned such that as between oligonucleotides in a given partition, the nucleic acid barcode sequences contained therein are the same, but as between different partitions, the oligonucleotides can, and do have differing barcode sequences, or at least represent a large number of different barcode sequences across all of the partitions in a given analysis. In some aspects, only one nucleic acid barcode sequence can be associated with a given partition, although in some cases, two or more different barcode sequences may be present.
The nucleic acid barcode sequences can include from 6 to about 20 or more nucleotides within the sequence of the oligonucleotides. In some cases, the length of a barcode sequence may be 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 nucleotides or longer. In some cases, the length of a barcode sequence may be at least 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 nucleotides or longer. In some cases, the length of a barcode sequence may be at most 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 nucleotides or shorter. These nucleotides may be completely contiguous, i.e., in a single stretch of adjacent nucleotides, or they may be separated into two or more separate subsequences that are separated by 1 or more nucleotides. In some cases, separated barcode subsequences can be from about 4 to about 16 nucleotides in length. In some cases, the barcode subsequence may be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 nucleotides or longer. In some cases, the barcode subsequence may be at least 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 nucleotides or longer. In some cases, the barcode subsequence may be at most 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 nucleotides or shorter.
The co-partitioned oligonucleotides can also comprise other functional sequences useful in the processing of the nucleic acids from the co-partitioned cells. These sequences include, e.g., targeted or random/universal amplification primer sequences for amplifying the genomic DNA from the individual cells within the partitions while attaching the associated barcode sequences, sequencing primers or primer recognition sites, hybridization or probing sequences, e.g., for identification of presence of the sequences or for pulling down barcoded nucleic acids, or any of a number of other potential functional sequences. Again, co-partitioning of oligonucleotides and associated barcodes and other functional sequences, along with sample materials is described in, for example, U.S. Patent Application Nos. 61/940,318, filed Feb. 7, 2014, 61/991,018, filed May 9, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/316,383, filed Jun. 26, 2014, as well as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/175,935, filed Feb. 7, 2014, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes. As will be appreciated other mechanisms of co-partitioning oligonucleotides may also be employed, including, e.g., coalescence of two or more droplets, where one droplet contains oligonucleotides, or microdispensing of oligonucleotides into partitions, e.g., droplets within microfluidic systems.
Briefly, in one example, beads, microparticles or microcapsules are provided that each include large numbers of the above described oligonucleotides releasably attached to the beads, where all of the oligonucleotides attached to a particular bead will include the same nucleic acid barcode sequence, but where a large number of diverse barcode sequences are represented across the population of beads used. In particularly useful examples, hydrogel beads, e.g., comprising polyacrylamide polymer matrices, are used as a solid support and delivery vehicle for the oligonucleotides into the partitions, as they are capable of carrying large numbers of oligonucleotide molecules, and may be configured to release those oligonucleotides upon exposure to a particular stimulus, as described elsewhere herein. In some cases, the population of beads will provide a diverse barcode sequence library that includes at least 1,000 different barcode sequences, at least different barcode sequences, at least 10,000 different barcode sequences, at least at least different barcode sequences, at least 100,000 different barcode sequences, at least 1,000,000 different barcode sequences, at least 5,000,000 different barcode sequences, or at least 10,000,000 different barcode sequences. Additionally, each bead can be provided with large numbers of oligonucleotide molecules attached. In particular, the number of molecules of oligonucleotides including the barcode sequence on an individual bead can be at least 1,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 5,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 10,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 50,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 100,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 500,000 oligonucleotides, at least 1,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 5,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 10,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 50,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 100,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, and in some cases at least 1 billion oligonucleotide molecules.
Moreover, when the population of beads is partitioned, the resulting population of partitions can also include a diverse barcode library that includes at least 1,000 different barcode sequences, at least 5,000 different barcode sequences, at least 10,000 different barcode sequences, at least at least 50,000 different barcode sequences, at least 100,000 different barcode sequences, at least 1,000,000 different barcode sequences, at least 5,000,000 different barcode sequences, or at least 10,000,000 different barcode sequences. Additionally, each partition of the population can include at least 1,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 5,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least oligonucleotide molecules, at least 50,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 100,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 500,000 oligonucleotides, at least 1,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 5,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 10,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 50,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, at least 100,000,000 oligonucleotide molecules, and in some cases at least 1 billion oligonucleotide molecules.
In some cases, it may be desirable to incorporate multiple different barcodes within a given partition, either attached to a single or multiple beads within the partition. For example, in some cases, a mixed, but known barcode sequences set may provide greater assurance of identification in the subsequent processing, e.g., by providing a stronger address or attribution of the barcodes to a given partition, as a duplicate or independent confirmation of the output from a given partition.
The oligonucleotides are releasable from the beads upon the application of a particular stimulus to the beads. In some cases, the stimulus may be a photo-stimulus, e.g., through cleavage of a photo-labile linkage that releases the oligonucleotides. In other cases, a thermal stimulus may be used, where elevation of the temperature of the beads environment will result in cleavage of a linkage or other release of the oligonucleotides form the beads. In still other cases, a chemical stimulus is used that cleaves a linkage of the oligonucleotides to the beads, or otherwise results in release of the oligonucleotides from the beads. Examples of this type of system are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/966,150, filed Aug. 13, 2013, as well as U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/940,318, filed Feb. 7, 2014, 61/991,018, Filed May 9, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/316,383, filed Jun. 26, 2014, the full disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference n their entireties for all purposes. In one case, such compositions include the polyacrylamide matrices described above for encapsulation of cells, and may be degraded for release of the attached oligonucleotides through exposure to a reducing agent, such as DTT.
In accordance with the methods and systems described herein, the beads including the attached oligonucleotides are co-partitioned with the individual cells, such that a single bead and a single cell are contained within an individual partition. As noted above, while single cell/single bead occupancy is the most desired state, it will be appreciated that multiply occupied partitions (either in terms of cells, beads or both), or unoccupied partitions (either in terms of cells, beads or both) will often be present. An example of a microfluidic channel structure for co-partitioning cells and beads comprising barcode oligonucleotides is schematically illustrated in
Concurrently, an aqueous stream comprising the barcode carrying beads 216, is flowed through channel segment 204 toward channel junction 212. A non-aqueous partitioning fluid 216 is introduced into channel junction 212 from each of side channels 206 and 208, and the combined streams are flowed into outlet channel 210. Within channel junction 212, the two combined aqueous streams from channel segments 202 and 204 are combined, and partitioned into droplets 218, that include co-partitioned cells 214 and beads 216. As noted previously, by controlling the flow characteristics of each of the fluids combining at channel junction 212, as well as controlling the geometry of the channel junction, one can optimize the combination and partitioning to achieve a desired occupancy level of beads, cells or both, within the partitions 218 that are generated.
In some cases, lysis agents, e.g., cell lysis enzymes, may be introduced into the partition with the bead stream, e.g., flowing through channel segment 204, such that lysis of the cell only commences at or after the time of partitioning. Additional reagents may also be added to the partition in this configuration, such as endonucleases to fragment the cell's DNA, DNA polymerase enzyme and dNTPs used to amplify the cell's nucleic acid fragments and to attach the barcode oligonucleotides to the amplified fragments. As noted above, in many cases, a chemical stimulus, such as DTT, may be used to release the barcodes from their respective beads into the partition. In such cases, it may be particularly desirable to provide the chemical stimulus along with the cell-containing stream in channel segment 202, such that release of the barcodes only occurs after the two streams have been combined, e.g., within the partitions 218. Where the cells are encapsulated, however, introduction of a common chemical stimulus, e.g., that both releases the oligonucleotides form their beads, and releases cells from their microcapsules may generally be provided from a separate additional side channel (not shown) upstream of or connected to channel junction 212.
As will be appreciated, a number of other reagents may be co-partitioned along with the cells, beads, lysis agents and chemical stimuli, including, for example, protective reagents, like proteinase K, chelators, nucleic acid extension, replication, transcription or amplification reagents such as polymerases, reverse transcriptases, transposases which can be used for transposon based methods (e.g., Nextera), nucleoside triphosphates or NTP analogues, primer sequences and additional cofactors such as divalent metal ions used in such reactions, ligation reaction reagents, such as ligase enzymes and ligation sequences, dyes, labels, or other tagging reagents.
The channel networks, e.g., as described herein, can be fluidly coupled to appropriate fluidic components. For example, the inlet channel segments, e.g., channel segments 202, 204, 206 and 208 are fluidly coupled to appropriate sources of the materials they are to deliver to channel junction 212. For example, channel segment 202 will be fluidly coupled to a source of an aqueous suspension of cells 214 to be analyzed, while channel segment 204 would be fluidly coupled to a source of an aqueous suspension of beads 216. Channel segments 206 and 208 would then be fluidly connected to one or more sources of the non-aqueous fluid. These sources may include any of a variety of different fluidic components, from simple reservoirs defined in or connected to a body structure of a microfluidic device, to fluid conduits that deliver fluids from off-device sources, manifolds, or the like. Likewise, the outlet channel segment 210 may be fluidly coupled to a receiving vessel or conduit for the partitioned cells. Again, this may be a reservoir defined in the body of a microfluidic device, or it may be a fluidic conduit for delivering the partitioned cells to a subsequent process operation, instrument or component.
In operation, once lysed, the nucleic acid contents of the individual cells are then available for further processing within the partitions, including, e.g., fragmentation, amplification and barcoding, as well as attachment of other functional sequences. As noted above, fragmentation may be accomplished through the co-partitioning of shearing enzymes, such as endonucleases, in order to fragment the nucleic acids into smaller fragments. These endonucleases may include restriction endonucleases, including type II and type IIs restriction endonucleases as well as other nucleic acid cleaving enzymes, such as nicking endonucleases, and the like. In some cases, fragmentation may not be desired, and full length nucleic acids may be retained within the partitions, or in the case of encapsulated cells or cell contents, fragmentation may be carried out prior to partitioning, e.g., through enzymatic methods, e.g., those described herein, or through mechanical methods, e.g., mechanical, acoustic or other shearing.
Once co-partitioned, and the cells are lysed to release their nucleic acids, the oligonucleotides disposed upon the bead may be used to barcode and amplify fragments of those nucleic acids. A particularly elegant process for use of these barcode oligonucleotides in amplifying and barcoding fragments of sample nucleic acids is described in detail in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/940,318, filed Feb. 7, 2014, 61/991,018, Filed May 9, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/316,383, filed Jun. 26, 2014, and previously incorporated by reference. Briefly, in one aspect, the oligonucleotides present on the beads that are co-partitioned with the cells, are released from their beads into the partition with the cell's nucleic acids. The oligonucleotides can include, along with the barcode sequence, a primer sequence at its end. This primer sequence may be a random oligonucleotide sequence intended to randomly prime numerous different regions on the cell's nucleic acids, or it may be a specific primer sequence targeted to prime upstream of a specific targeted region of the cell's genome.
Once released, the primer portion of the oligonucleotide can anneal to a complementary region of the cell's nucleic acid. Extension reaction reagents, e.g., DNA polymerase, nucleoside triphosphates, co-factors (e.g., Mg2+ or Mn2+), that are also co-partitioned with the cells and beads, then extend the primer sequence using the cell's nucleic acid as a template, to produce a complementary fragment to the strand of the cell's nucleic acid to which the primer annealed, which complementary fragment includes the oligonucleotide and its associated barcode sequence. Annealing and extension of multiple primers to different portions of the cell's nucleic acids will result in a large pool of overlapping complementary fragments of the nucleic acid, each possessing its own barcode sequence indicative of the partition in which it was created. In some cases, these complementary fragments may themselves be used as a template primed by the oligonucleotides present in the partition to produce a complement of the complement that again, includes the barcode sequence. In some cases, this replication process is configured such that when the first complement is duplicated, it produces two complementary sequences at or near its termini, to allow formation of a hairpin structure or partial hairpin structure, the reduces the ability of the molecule to be the basis for producing further iterative copies. As described herein, the cell's nucleic acids may include any desired nucleic acids within the cell including, for example, the cell's DNA, e.g., genomic DNA, RNA, e.g., messenger RNA, and the like. For example, in some cases, the methods and systems described herein are used in characterizing expressed mRNA, including, e.g., the presence and quantification of such mRNA, and may include RNA sequencing processes as the characterization process. Alternatively or additionally, the reagents partitioned along with the cells may include reagents for the conversion of mRNA into cDNA, e.g., reverse transcriptase enzymes and reagents, to facilitate sequencing processes where DNA sequencing is employed. In some cases, where the nucleic acids to be characterized comprise RNA, e.g., mRNA, schematic illustration of one example of this is shown in
As shown, oligonucleotides that include a barcode sequence are co-partitioned in, e.g., a droplet 302 in an emulsion, along with a sample nucleic acid 304. As noted elsewhere herein, the oligonucleotides 308 may be provided on a bead 306 that is co-partitioned with the sample nucleic acid 304, which oligonucleotides are releasable from the bead 306, as shown in panel A. The oligonucleotides 308 include a barcode sequence 312, in addition to one or more functional sequences, e.g., sequences 310, 314 and 316. For example, oligonucleotide 308 is shown as comprising barcode sequence 312, as well as sequence 310 that may function as an attachment or immobilization sequence for a given sequencing system, e.g., a P5 sequence used for attachment in flow cells of an Illumina Hiseq® or Miseq® system. As shown, the oligonucleotides also include a primer sequence 316, which may include a random or targeted N-mer for priming replication of portions of the sample nucleic acid 304. Also included within oligonucleotide 308 is a sequence 314 which may provide a sequencing priming region, such as a “read1” or R1 priming region, that is used to prime polymerase mediated, template directed sequencing by synthesis reactions in sequencing systems. As will be appreciated, the functional sequences may be selected to be compatible with a variety of different sequencing systems, e.g., 454 Sequencing, Ion Torrent Proton or PGM, Illumina X10, etc., and the requirements thereof. In many cases, the barcode sequence 312, immobilization sequence 310 and R1 sequence 314 may be common to all of the oligonucleotides attached to a given bead. The primer sequence 316 may vary for random N-mer primers, or may be common to the oligonucleotides on a given bead for certain targeted applications.
As will be appreciated, in some cases, the functional sequences may include primer sequences useful for RNA-seq applications. For example, in some cases, the oligonucleotides may include poly-T primers for priming reverse transcription of RNA for RNA-seq. In still other cases, oligonucleotides in a given partition, e.g., included on an individual bead, may include multiple types of primer sequences in addition to the common barcode sequences, such as both DNA-sequencing and RNA sequencing primers, e.g., poly-T primer sequences included within the oligonucleotides coupled to the bead. In such cases, a single partitioned cell may be both subjected to DNA and RNA sequencing processes.
Based upon the presence of primer sequence 316, the oligonucleotides can prime the sample nucleic acid as shown in panel B, which allows for extension of the oligonucleotides 308 and 308a using polymerase enzymes and other extension reagents also co-partitioned with the bead 306 and sample nucleic acid 304. As shown in panel C, following extension of the oligonucleotides that, for random N-mer primers, would anneal to multiple different regions of the sample nucleic acid 304; multiple overlapping complements or fragments of the nucleic acid are created, e.g., fragments 318 and 320. Although including sequence portions that are complementary to portions of sample nucleic acid, e.g., sequences 322 and 324, these constructs are generally referred to herein as comprising fragments of the sample nucleic acid 304, having the attached barcode sequences.
The barcoded nucleic acid fragments may then be subjected to characterization, e.g., through sequence analysis, or they may be further amplified in the process, as shown in panel D. For example, additional oligonucleotides, e.g., oligonucleotide 308b, also released from bead 306, may prime the fragments 318 and 320. This shown in for fragment 318. In particular, again, based upon the presence of the random N-mer primer 316b in oligonucleotide 308b (which in many cases can be different from other random N-mers in a given partition, e.g., primer sequence 316), the oligonucleotide anneals with the fragment 318, and is extended to create a complement 326 to at least a portion of fragment 318 which includes sequence 328, that comprises a duplicate of a portion of the sample nucleic acid sequence. Extension of the oligonucleotide 308b continues until it has replicated through the oligonucleotide portion 308 of fragment 318. As noted elsewhere herein, and as illustrated in panel D, the oligonucleotides may be configured to prompt a stop in the replication by the polymerase at a desired point, e.g., after replicating through sequences 316 and 314 of oligonucleotide 308 that is included within fragment 318. As described herein, this may be accomplished by different methods, including, for example, the incorporation of different nucleotides and/or nucleotide analogues that are not capable of being processed by the polymerase enzyme used. For example, this may include the inclusion of uracil containing nucleotides within the sequence region 312 to prevent a non-uracil tolerant polymerase to cease replication of that region. As a result a fragment 326 is created that includes the full-length oligonucleotide 308b at one end, including the barcode sequence 312, the attachment sequence 310, the R1 primer region 314, and the random N-mer sequence 316b. At the other end of the sequence may be included the complement 316′ to the random N-mer of the first oligonucleotide 308, as well as a complement to all or a portion of the R1 sequence, shown as sequence 314′. The R1 sequence 314 and its complement 314′ are then able to hybridize together to form a partial hairpin structure 328. As will be appreciated because the random N-mers differ among different oligonucleotides, these sequences and their complements would not be expected to participate in hairpin formation, e.g., sequence 316′, which is the complement to random N-mer 316, would not be expected to be complementary to random N-mer sequence 316b. This would not be the case for other applications, e.g., targeted primers, where the N-mers would be common among oligonucleotides within a given partition.
By forming these partial hairpin structures, it allows for the removal of first level duplicates of the sample sequence from further replication, e.g., preventing iterative copying of copies. The partial hairpin structure also provides a useful structure for subsequent processing of the created fragments, e.g., fragment 326.
In general, the amplification of the cell's nucleic acids is carried out until the barcoded overlapping fragments within the partition constitute at least 1× coverage of the particular portion or all of the cell's genome, at least 2×, at least 3×, at least 4×, at least 5×, at least 10×, at least at least 40× or more coverage of the genome or its relevant portion of interest. Once the barcoded fragments are produced, they may be directly sequenced on an appropriate sequencing system, e.g., an Illumina Hiseq®, Miseq® or X10 system, or they may be subjected to additional processing, such as further amplification, attachment of other functional sequences, e.g., second sequencing primers, for reverse reads, sample index sequences, and the like.
All of the fragments from multiple different partitions may then be pooled for sequencing on high throughput sequencers as described herein, where the pooled fragments comprise a large number of fragments derived from the nucleic acids of different cells or small cell populations, but where the fragments from the nucleic acids of a given cell will share the same barcode sequence. In particular, because each fragment is coded as to its partition of origin, and consequently its single cell or small population of cells, the sequence of that fragment may be attributed back to that cell or those cells based upon the presence of the barcode, which will also aid in applying the various sequence fragments from multiple partitions to assembly of individual genomes for different cells. This is schematically illustrated in
Within each partition, each cell's nucleic acids 404 and 406 is then processed to separately provide overlapping set of second fragments of the first fragment(s), e.g., second fragment sets 408 and 410. This processing also provides the second fragments with a barcode sequence that is the same for each of the second fragments derived from a particular first fragment. As shown, the barcode sequence for second fragment set 408 is denoted by “1” while the barcode sequence for fragment set 410 is denoted by “2”. A diverse library of barcodes may be used to differentially barcode large numbers of different fragment sets. However, it is not necessary for every second fragment set from a different first fragment to be barcoded with different barcode sequences. In fact, in many cases, multiple different first fragments may be processed concurrently to include the same barcode sequence. Diverse barcode libraries are described in detail elsewhere herein.
The barcoded fragments, e.g., from fragment sets 408 and 410, may then be pooled for sequencing using, for example, sequence by synthesis technologies available from Illumina or Ion Torrent division of Thermo-Fisher, Inc. Once sequenced, the sequence reads 412 can be attributed to their respective fragment set, e.g., as shown in aggregated reads 414 and 416, at least in part based upon the included barcodes, and in some cases, in part based upon the sequence of the fragment itself. The attributed sequence reads for each fragment set are then assembled to provide the assembled sequence for each cell's nucleic acids, e.g., sequences 418 and 420, which in turn, may be attributed to individual cells, e.g., cells 400 and 402.
While described in terms of analyzing the genetic material present within cells, the methods and systems described herein may have much broader applicability, including the ability to characterize other aspects of individual cells or cell populations, by allowing for the allocation of reagents to individual cells, and providing for the attributable analysis or characterization of those cells in response to those reagents. These methods and systems are particularly valuable in being able to characterize cells for, e.g., research, diagnostic, pathogen identification, and many other purposes. By way of example, a wide range of different cell surface features, e.g., cell surface proteins like cluster of differentiation or CD proteins, have significant diagnostic relevance in characterization of diseases like cancer.
In one particularly useful application, the methods and systems described herein may be used to characterize cell features, such as cell surface features, e.g., proteins, receptors, etc. In particular, the methods described herein may be used to attach reporter molecules to these cell features, that when partitioned as described above, may be barcoded and analyzed, e.g., using DNA sequencing technologies, to ascertain the presence, and in some cases, relative abundance or quantity of such cell features within an individual cell or population of cells.
In a particular example, a library of potential cell binding ligands, e.g., antibodies, antibody fragments, cell surface receptor binding molecules, or the like, maybe provided associated with a first set of nucleic acid reporter molecules, e.g., where a different reporter oligonucleotide sequence is associated with a specific ligand, and therefore capable of binding to a specific cell surface feature. In some aspects, different members of the library may be characterized by the presence of a different oligonucleotide sequence label, e.g., an antibody to a first type of cell surface protein or receptor would have associated with it a first known reporter oligonucleotide sequence, while an antibody to a second receptor protein would have a different known reporter oligonucleotide sequence associated with it. Prior to co-partitioning, the cells would be incubated with the library of ligands, that may represent antibodies to a broad panel of different cell surface features, e.g., receptors, proteins, etc., and which include their associated reporter oligonucleotides. Unbound ligands are washed from the cells, and the cells are then co-partitioned along with the barcode oligonucleotides described above. As a result, the partitions will include the cell or cells, as well as the bound ligands and their known, associated reporter oligonucleotides.
Without the need for lysing the cells within the partitions, one could then subject the reporter oligonucleotides to the barcoding operations described above for cellular nucleic acids, to produce barcoded, reporter oligonucleotides, where the presence of the reporter oligonucleotides can be indicative of the presence of the particular cell surface feature, and the barcode sequence will allow the attribution of the range of different cell surface features to a given individual cell or population of cells based upon the barcode sequence that was co-partitioned with that cell or population of cells. As a result, one may generate a cell-by-cell profile of the cell surface features within a broader population of cells. This aspect of the methods and systems described herein, is described in greater detail below.
This example is schematically illustrated in
Downstream applications, for example DNA sequencing, may rely on the barcodes to identify the origin of a sequence and, for example, to assemble a larger sequence from sequenced fragments. Therefore, it may be desirable to add barcodes to the polynucleotide fragments generated by the methods described herein. Barcodes may be of a variety of different formats, including polynucleotide barcodes. Depending upon the specific application, barcodes may be attached to polynucleotide fragments in a reversible or irreversible manner. Barcodes may also allow for identification and/or quantification of individual polynucleotide fragments during sequencing.
Barcodes may be loaded into partitions so that one or more barcodes are introduced into a particular partition. Each partition may contain a different set of barcodes. This may be accomplished by directly dispensing the barcodes into the partitions, enveloping the barcodes (e.g., in a droplet of an emulsion), or by placing the barcodes within a container that is placed in a partition (e.g., a microcapsule).
For example, a population of microcapsules may be prepared such that a first microcapsule in the population comprises multiple copies of identical barcodes (e.g., polynucleotide bar codes, etc.) and a second microcapsule in the population comprises multiple copies of a barcode that differs from the barcode within the first microcapsule. In some cases, the population of microcapsules may comprise multiple microcapsules (e.g., greater than about 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000, 100000000, or 1000000000 microcapsules), each containing multiple copies of a barcode that differs from that contained in the other microcapsules. In some cases, the population may comprise greater than about 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000, 100000000, or 1000000000 microcapsules with identical sets of barcodes. In some cases, the population may comprise greater than about 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000, 100000000, or 1000000000 microcapsules, wherein the microcapsules each comprise a different combination of barcodes. For example, in some cases the different combinations overlap, such that a first microcapsule may comprise, e.g., barcodes A, B, and C, while a second microcapsule may comprise barcodes A, B, and D. In another example, the different combinations do not overlap, such that a first microcapsule may comprise, e.g., barcodes A, B, and C, while a second microcapsule may comprise barcodes D, E, and F. The use of microcapsules is, of course, optional. All of the combinations described above, and throughout this disclosure, may also be generated by dispending barcodes (and other reagents) directly into partitions (e.g., microwells).
The barcodes may be loaded into the partitions at an expected or predicted ratio of barcodes per species to be barcoded (e.g., polynucleotide fragment, strand of polynucleotide, cell, etc.). In some cases, the barcodes are loaded into partitions such that more than about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, or 200000 barcodes are loaded per species. In some cases, the barcodes are loaded in the partitions so that less than about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, or 200000 barcodes are loaded per species. In some cases, the average number of barcodes loaded per species is less than, or greater than, about 0.0001, 0.001, 0.1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, or 200000 barcodes per species.
When more than one barcode is present per polynucleotide fragment, such barcodes may be copies of the same barcode, or multiple different barcodes. For example, the attachment process may be designed to attach multiple identical barcodes to a single polynucleotide fragment, or multiple different barcodes to the polynucleotide fragment.
The methods provided herein may comprise loading a partition (e.g., a microwell, droplet of an emulsion) with the reagents necessary for the attachment of barcodes to polynucleotide fragments. In the case of ligation reactions, reagents including restriction enzymes, ligase enzymes, buffers, adapters, barcodes and the like may be loaded into a partition. In the case barcoding by amplification, reagents including primers, DNA polymerases, DNTPs, buffers, barcodes and the like may be loaded into a partition. As described throughout this disclosure, these reagents may be loaded directly into the partition, or via a container such as a microcapsule. If the reagents are not disposed within a container, they may be loaded into a partition (e.g., a microwell) which may then be sealed with a wax or oil until the reagents are used.
Barcodes may be ligated to a polynucleotide fragment using sticky or blunt ends. Barcoded polynucleotide fragments may also be generated by amplifying a polynucleotide fragment with primers comprising barcodes.
Barcodes may be assembled combinatorially, from smaller components designed to assemble in a modular format. For example, three modules, 1A, 1B, and 1C may be combinatorially assembled to produce barcode 1ABC. Such combinatorial assembly may significantly reduce the cost of synthesizing a plurality of barcodes. For example, a combinatorial system consisting of 3 A modules, 3 B modules, and 3 C modules may generate 3*3*3=27 possible barcode sequences from only 9 modules.
Barcoding and beads of the present disclosure may be performed and used as described in, for example, WO2014/028537 and WO 2014/124338, each of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
There are a wide variety of different applications of the single cell processing and analysis methods and systems described herein, including analysis of specific individual ells, analysis of different cell types within populations of differing cell types, analysis and characterization of large populations of cells for environmental, human health, epidemiological forensic, or any of a wide variety of different applications.
A particularly valuable application of the single cell analysis processes described herein is in the sequencing and characterization of cancer cells. In particular, conventional analytical techniques, including the ensemble sequencing processes alluded to above, are not highly adept at picking small variations in genomic make-up of cancer cells, particularly where those exist in a sea of normal tissue cells. Further, even as between tumor cells, wide variations can exist and can be masked by the ensemble approaches to sequencing (See, e.g., Patel, et al., Single-cell RNA-seq highlights intratumoral heterogeneity in primary glioblastoma, Science DOI: (Published online Jun. 12, 2014). Cancer cells may be derived from solid tumors, hematological malignancies, cell lines, or obtained as circulating tumor cells, and subjected to the partitioning processes described above. Upon analysis, one can identify individual cell sequences as deriving from a single cell or small group of cells, and distinguish those over normal tissue cell sequences. Further, as described in co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/017,808, filed Jun. 26, 2014, the full disclosures of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes, one may also obtain phased sequence information from each cell, allowing clearer characterization of the haplotype variants within a cancer cell. The single cell analysis approach is particularly useful for systems and methods involving low quantities of input nucleic acids, as described in co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/017,580, filed Jun. 26, 2014, the full disclosures of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
As with cancer cell analysis, the analysis and diagnosis of fetal health or abnormality through the analysis of fetal cells is a difficult task using conventional techniques. In particular, in the absence of relatively invasive procedures, such as amniocentesis obtaining fetal cell samples can employ harvesting those cells from the maternal circulation. As will be appreciated, such circulating fetal cells make up an extremely small fraction of the overall cellular population of that circulation. As a result complex analyses are performed in order to characterize what of the obtained data is likely derived from fetal cells as opposed to maternal cells. By employing the single cell characterization methods and systems described herein, however, one can attribute genetic make up to individual cells, and categorize those cells as maternal or fetal based upon their respective genetic make-up. Further, the genetic sequence of fetal cells may be used to identify any of a number of genetic disorders, including, e.g., aneuploidy such as Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, and Patau syndrome.
The ability to characterize individual cells from larger diverse populations of cells is also of significant value in both environmental testing as well as in forensic analysis, where samples may, by their nature, be made up of diverse populations of cells and other material that “contaminate” the sample, relative to the cells for which the sample is being tested, e.g., environmental indicator organisms, toxic organisms, and the like for, e.g., environmental and food safety testing, victim and/or perpetrator cells in forensic analysis for sexual assault, and other violent crimes, and the like.
Additional useful applications of the above described single cell sequencing and characterization processes are in the field of neuroscience research and diagnosis. In particular, neural cells can include long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs), or ‘jumping’ genes that can move around the genome, which cause each neuron to differ from its neighbor cells. Research has shown that the number of LINEs in human brain exceeds that of other tissues, e.g., heart and liver tissue, with between 80 and 300 unique insertions (See, e.g., Coufal, N. G. et al. Nature 460, 1127-1131 (2009)). These differences have been postulated as being related to a person's susceptibility to neuro-logical disorders (see, e.g., Muotri, A. R. et al. Nature 468, 443-446 (2010)), or provide the brain with a diversity with which to respond to challenges. As such, the methods described herein may be used in the sequencing and characterization of individual neural cells.
The single cell analysis methods described herein are also useful in the analysis of gene expression, as noted above, both in terms of identification of RNA transcripts and their quantitation. In particular, using the single cell level analysis methods described herein, one can isolate and analyze the RNA transcripts present in individual cells, populations of cells, or subsets of populations of cells. In particular, in some cases, the barcode oligonucleotides may be configured to prime, replicate and consequently yield barcoded fragments of RNA from individual cells. For example, in some cases, the barcode oligonucleotides may include mRNA specific priming sequences, e.g., poly-T primer segments that allow priming and replication of mRNA in a reverse transcription reaction or other targeted priming sequences. Alternatively or additionally, random RNA priming may be carried out using random N-mer primer segments of the barcode oligonucleotides.
As noted elsewhere herein, the structure of the barcode oligonucleotides may include a number of sequence elements in addition to the oligonucleotide barcode sequence. One example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis as described above is shown in
In operation, and with reference to
As noted elsewhere herein, while a poly-T primer sequence is described, other targeted or random priming sequences may also be used in priming the reverse transcription reaction. Likewise, although described as releasing the barcoded oligonucleotides into the partition along with the contents of the lysed cells, it will be appreciated that in some cases, the gel bead bound oligonucleotides may be used to hybridize ad capture the mRNA on the solid phase of the gel beads, in order to facilitate the separation of the RNA from other cell contents.
An additional example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis, including messenger RNA (mRNA, including mRNA obtained from a cell) analysis, is shown in
In an example method of cellular RNA (e.g., mRNA) analysis and in reference to
In an alternative example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA (e.g., cellular RNA) analysis as shown in
Shown in
Shown in
Shown in
Shown in
Another example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis, including messenger RNA (mRNA, including mRNA obtained from a cell) analysis is shown in
In an example method of cellular RNA analysis and in reference to
In an alternative example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA (e.g., cellular RNA) analysis as shown in
An additional example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis, including messenger RNA (mRNA, including mRNA obtained from a cell) analysis is shown in
In an example method of cellular mRNA analysis and in reference to
An additional example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis, including cellular RNA analysis is shown in
An additional example of a barcode oligonucleotide for use in RNA analysis, including cellular RNA analysis is shown in
The single cell analysis methods described herein may also be useful in the analysis of the whole transcriptome. Referring back to the barcode of
Although operations with various barcode designs have been discussed individually, individual beads can include barcode oligonucleotides of various designs for simultaneous use.
In addition to characterizing individual cells or cell sub-populations from larger populations, the processes and systems described herein may also be used to characterize individual cells as a way to provide an overall profile of a cellular, or other organismal population. A variety of applications require the evaluation of the presence and quantification of different cell or organism types within a population of cells, including, for example, microbiome analysis and characterization, environmental testing, food safety testing, epidemiological analysis, e.g., in tracing contamination or the like. In particular, the analysis processes described above may be used to individually characterize, sequence and/or identify large numbers of individual cells within a population. This characterization may then be used to assemble an overall profile of the originating population, which can provide important prognostic and diagnostic information.
For example, shifts in human microbiomes, including, e.g., gut, buccal, epidermal microbiomes, etc., have been identified as being both diagnostic and prognostic of different conditions or general states of health. Using the single cell analysis methods and systems described herein, one can again, characterize, sequence and identify individual cells in an overall population, and identify shifts within that population that may be indicative of diagnostic ally relevant factors. By way of example, sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA genes has been used as a highly accurate method for taxonomic classification of bacteria. Using the targeted amplification and sequencing processes described above can provide identification of individual cells within a population of cells. One may further quantify the numbers of different cells within a population to identify current states or shifts in states over time. See, e.g., Morgan et al, PLoS Comput. Biol., Ch. 12, December 2012, 8(12):e1002808, and Ram et al., Syst. Biol. Reprod. Med., June 2011, 57(3):162-170, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Likewise, identification and diagnosis of infection or potential infection may also benefit from the single cell analyses described herein, e.g., to identify microbial species present in large mixes of other cells or other biological material, cells and/or nucleic acids, including the environments described above, as well as any other diagnostically relevant environments, e.g., cerebrospinal fluid, blood, fecal or intestinal samples, or the like.
The foregoing analyses may also be particularly useful in the characterization of potential drug resistance of different cells, e.g., cancer cells, bacterial pathogens, etc., through the analysis of distribution and profiling of different resistance markers/mutations across cell populations in a given sample. Additionally, characterization of shifts in these markers/mutations across populations of cells over time can provide valuable insight into the progression, alteration, prevention, and treatment of a variety of diseases characterized by such drug resistance issues.
Although described in terms of cells, it will be appreciated that any of a variety of individual biological organisms, or components of organisms are encompassed within this description, including, for example, cells, viruses, organelles, cellular inclusions, vesicles, or the like. Additionally, where referring to cells, it will be appreciated that such reference includes any type of cell, including without limitation prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic cells, bacterial, fungal, plant, mammalian, or other animal cell types, mycoplasmas, normal tissue cells, tumor cells, or any other cell type, whether derived from single cell or multicellular organisms.
Similarly, analysis of different environmental samples to profile the microbial organisms, viruses, or other biological contaminants that are present within such samples, can provide important information about disease epidemiology, and potentially aid in forecasting disease outbreaks, epidemics an pandemics.
As described above, the methods, systems and compositions described herein may also be used for analysis and characterization of other aspects of individual cells or populations of cells. In one example process, a sample is provided that contains cells that are to be analyzed and characterized as to their cell surface proteins. Also provided is a library of antibodies, antibody fragments, or other molecules having a binding affinity to the cell surface proteins or antigens (or other cell features) for which the cell is to be characterized (also referred to herein as cell surface feature binding groups). For ease of discussion, these affinity groups are referred to herein as binding groups. The binding groups can include a reporter molecule that is indicative of the cell surface feature to which the binding group binds. In particular, a binding group type that is specific to one type of cell surface feature will comprise a first reporter molecule, while a binding group type that is specific to a different cell surface feature will have a different reporter molecule associated with it. In some aspects, these reporter molecules will comprise oligonucleotide sequences. Oligonucleotide based reporter molecules provide advantages of being able to generate significant diversity in terms of sequence, while also being readily attachable to most biomolecules, e.g., antibodies, etc., as well as being readily detected, e.g., using sequencing or array technologies. In the example process, the binding groups include oligonucleotides attached to them. Thus, a first binding group type, e.g., antibodies to a first type of cell surface feature, will have associated with it a reporter oligonucleotide that has a first nucleotide sequence. Different binding group types, e.g., antibodies having binding affinity for other, different cell surface features, will have associated therewith reporter oligonucleotides that comprise different nucleotide sequences, e.g., having a partially or completely different nucleotide sequence. In some cases, for each type of cell surface feature binding group, e.g., antibody or antibody fragment, the reporter oligonucleotide sequence may be known and readily identifiable as being associated with the known cell surface feature binding group. These oligonucleotides may be directly coupled to the binding group, or they may be attached to a bead, molecular lattice, e.g., a linear, globular, cross-slinked, or other polymer, or other framework that is attached or otherwise associated with the binding group, which allows attachment of multiple reporter oligonucleotides to a single binding group.
In the case of multiple reporter molecules coupled to a single binding group, such reporter molecules can comprise the same sequence, or a particular binding group will include a known set of reporter oligonucleotide sequences. As between different binding groups, e.g., specific for different cell surface features, the reporter molecules can be different and attributable to the particular binding group.
Attachment of the reporter groups to the binding groups may be achieved through any of a variety of direct or indirect, covalent or non-covalent associations or attachments. For example, in the case of oligonucleotide reporter groups associated with antibody based binding groups, such oligonucleotides may be covalently attached to a portion of an antibody or antibody fragment using chemical conjugation techniques (e.g., Lightning-Link® antibody labeling kits available from Innova Biosciences), as well as other non-covalent attachment mechanisms, e.g., using biotinylated antibodies and oligonucleotides (or beads that include one or more biotinylated linker, coupled to oligonucleotides) with an avidin or streptavidin linker. Antibody and oligonucleotide biotinylation techniques are available (See, e.g., Fang, et al., Fluoride-Cleavable Biotinylation Phosphoramidite for 5′-end-Labeling and Affinity Purification of Synthetic Oligonucleotides, Nucleic Acids Res. January 2003; 31(2):708-715, DNA 3′ End Biotinylation Kit, available from Thermo Scientific, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes). Likewise, protein and peptide biotinylation techniques have been developed and are readily available (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,552, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes).
The reporter oligonucleotides may be provided having any of a range of different lengths, depending upon the diversity of reporter molecules desired or a given analysis, the sequence detection scheme employed, and the like. In some cases, these reporter sequences can be greater than about 5 nucleotides in length, greater than about 10 nucleotides in length, greater than about 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120, 150 or even 200 nucleotides in length. In some cases, these reporter nucleotides may be less than about 250 nucleotides in length, less than about 200, 180, 150, 120 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, or even 30 nucleotides in length. In many cases, the reporter oligonucleotides may be selected to provide barcoded products that are already sized, and otherwise configured to be analyzed on a sequencing system. For example, these sequences may be provided at a length that ideally creates sequenceable products of a desired length for particular sequencing systems. Likewise, these reporter oligonucleotides may include additional sequence elements, in addition to the reporter sequence, such as sequencer attachment sequences, sequencing primer sequences, amplification primer sequences, or the complements to any of these.
In operation, a cell-containing sample is incubated with the binding molecules and their associated reporter oligonucleotides, for any of the cell surface features desired to be analyzed. Following incubation, the cells are washed to remove unbound binding groups. Following washing, the cells are partitioned into separate partitions, e.g., droplets, along with the barcode carrying beads described above, where each partition includes a limited number of cells, e.g., in some cases, a single cell. Upon releasing the barcodes from the beads, they will prime the amplification and barcoding of the reporter oligonucleotides. As noted above, the barcoded replicates of the reporter molecules may additionally include functional sequences, such as primer sequences, attachment sequences or the like.
The barcoded reporter oligonucleotides are then subjected to sequence analysis to identify which reporter oligonucleotides bound to the cells within the partitions. Further, by also sequencing the associated barcode sequence, one can identify that a given cell surface feature likely came from the same cell as other, different cell surface features, whose reporter sequences include the same barcode sequence, i.e., they were derived from the same partition.
Based upon the reporter molecules that emanate from an individual partition based upon the presence of the barcode sequence, one may then create a cell surface profile of individual cells from a population of cells. Profiles of individual cells or populations of cells may be compared to profiles from other cells, e.g., ‘normal’ cells, to identify variations in cell surface features, which may provide diagnostically relevant information. In particular, these profiles may be particularly useful in the diagnosis of a variety of disorders that are characterized by variations in cell surface receptors, such as cancer and other disorders.
Also provided herein are the microfluidic devices used for partitioning the cells as described above. Such microfluidic devices can comprise channel networks for carrying out the partitioning process like those set forth in
Also provided are systems that control flow of these fluids through the channel networks e.g., through applied pressure differentials, centrifugal force, electrokinetic pumping, capillary or gravity flow, or the like.
Also provided herein are kits for analyzing individual cells or small populations of cells. The kits may include one, two, three, four, five or more, up to all of partitioning fluids, including both aqueous buffers and non-aqueous partitioning fluids or oils, nucleic acid barcode libraries that are releasably associated with beads, as described herein, microfluidic devices, reagents for disrupting cells amplifying nucleic acids, and providing additional functional sequences on fragments of cellular nucleic acids or replicates thereof, as well as instructions for using any of the foregoing in the methods described herein.
The present disclosure provides computer control systems that are programmed to implement methods of the disclosure.
The computer system 1701 includes a central processing unit (CPU, also “processor” and “computer processor” herein) 1705, which can be a single core or multi core processor, or a plurality of processors for parallel processing. The computer system 1701 also includes memory or memory location 1710 (e.g., random-access memory, read-only memory, flash memory), electronic storage unit 1715 (e.g., hard disk), communication interface 1720 (e.g., network adapter) for communicating with one or more other systems, and peripheral devices 1725, such as cache, other memory, data storage and/or electronic display adapters. The memory 1710, storage unit 1715, interface 1720 and peripheral devices 1725 are in communication with the CPU 1705 through a communication bus (solid lines), such as a motherboard. The storage unit 1715 can be a data storage unit (or data repository) for storing data. The computer system 1701 can be operatively coupled to a computer network (“network”) 1730 with the aid of the communication interface 1720. The network 1730 can be the Internet, an internet and/or extranet, or an intranet and/or extranet that is in communication with the Internet. The network 1730 in some cases is a telecommunication and/or data network. The network 1730 can include one or more computer servers, which can enable distributed computing, such as cloud computing. The network 1730, in some cases with the aid of the computer system 1701, can implement a peer-to-peer network, which may enable devices coupled to the computer system 1701 to behave as a client or a server.
The CPU 1705 can execute a sequence of machine-readable instructions, which can be embodied in a program or software. The instructions may be stored in a memory location, such as the memory 1710. The instructions can be directed to the CPU 1705, which can subsequently program or otherwise configure the CPU 1705 to implement methods of the present disclosure. Examples of operations performed by the CPU 1705 can include fetch, decode, execute, and writeback.
The CPU 1705 can be part of a circuit, such as an integrated circuit. One or more other components of the system 1701 can be included in the circuit. In some cases, the circuit is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
The storage unit 1715 can store files, such as drivers, libraries and saved programs. The storage unit 1715 can store user data, e.g., user preferences and user programs. The computer system 1701 in some cases can include one or more additional data storage units that are external to the computer system 1701, such as located on a remote server that is in communication with the computer system 1701 through an intranet or the Internet.
The computer system 1701 can communicate with one or more remote computer systems through the network 1730. For instance, the computer system 1701 can communicate with a remote computer system of a user. Examples of remote computer systems include personal computers (e.g., portable PC), slate or tablet PC's (e.g., Apple® iPad, Samsung® Galaxy Tab), telephones, Smart phones (e.g., Apple® iPhone, Android-enabled device, Blackberry®), or personal digital assistants. The user can access the computer system 1701 via the network 1730.
Methods as described herein can be implemented by way of machine (e.g., computer processor) executable code stored on an electronic storage location of the computer system 1701, such as, for example, on the memory 1710 or electronic storage unit 1715. The machine executable or machine readable code can be provided in the form of software. During use, the code can be executed by the processor 1705. In some cases, the code can be retrieved from the storage unit 1715 and stored on the memory 1710 for ready access by the processor 1705. In some situations, the electronic storage unit 1715 can be precluded, and machine-executable instructions are stored on memory 1710.
The code can be pre-compiled and configured for use with a machine having a processer adapted to execute the code, or can be compiled during runtime. The code can be supplied in a programming language that can be selected to enable the code to execute in a pre-compiled or as-compiled fashion.
Aspects of the systems and methods provided herein, such as the computer system 1701, can be embodied in programming. Various aspects of the technology may be thought of as “products” or “articles of manufacture” typically in the form of machine (or processor) executable code and/or associated data that is carried on or embodied in a type of machine readable medium. Machine-executable code can be stored on an electronic storage unit, such as memory (e.g., read-only memory, random-access memory, flash memory) or a hard disk. “Storage” type media can include any or all of the tangible memory of the computers, processors or the like, or associated modules thereof, such as various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk drives and the like, which may provide non-transitory storage at any time for the software programming. All or portions of the software may at times be communicated through the Internet or various other telecommunication networks. Such communications, for example, may enable loading of the software from one computer or processor into another, for example, from a management server or host computer into the computer platform of an application server. Thus, another type of media that may bear the software elements includes optical, electrical and electromagnetic waves, such as used across physical interfaces between local devices, through wired and optical landline networks and over various air-links. The physical elements that carry such waves, such as wired or wireless links, optical links or the like, also may be considered as media bearing the software. As used herein, unless restricted to non-transitory, tangible “storage” media, terms such as computer or machine “readable medium” refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to a processor for execution.
Hence, a machine readable medium, such as computer-executable code, may take many forms, including but not limited to, a tangible storage medium, a carrier wave medium or physical transmission medium. Non-volatile storage media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as any of the storage devices in any computer(s) or the like, such as may be used to implement the databases, etc. shown in the drawings. Volatile storage media include dynamic memory, such as main memory of such a computer platform. Tangible transmission media include coaxial cables; copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a bus within a computer system. Carrier-wave transmission media may take the form of electric or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic or light waves such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media therefore include for example: a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD or DVD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards paper tape, any other physical storage medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave transporting data or instructions, cables or links transporting such a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer may read programming code and/or data. Many of these forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to a processor for execution.
The computer system 1701 can include or be in communication with an electronic display 1735 that comprises a user interface (UI) 1740 for providing, for example, results of nucleic acid sequencing, analysis of nucleic acid sequencing data, characterization of nucleic acid sequencing samples, cell characterizations, etc. Examples of UI's include, without limitation, a graphical user interface (GUI) and web-based user interface.
Methods and systems of the present disclosure can be implemented by way of one or more algorithms. An algorithm can be implemented by way of software upon execution by the central processing unit 1705. The algorithm can, for example, initiate nucleic acid sequencing, process nucleic acid sequencing data, interpret nucleic acid sequencing results, characterize nucleic acid samples, characterize cells, etc.
In an example, reverse transcription with template switching and cDNA amplification (via PCR) is performed in emulsion droplets with operations as shown in
The yield from template switch reverse transcription and PCR in emulsions is shown for 1,000 cells in
In another example, reverse transcription with template switching and cDNA amplification (via PCR) is performed in emulsion droplets with operations as shown in
In another example, reverse transcription is performed in emulsion droplets and cDNA amplification is performed in bulk in a manner similar to that as shown in
In another example, in vitro transcription by T7 polymerase is used to produce RNA transcripts as shown in
While some embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. It is not intended that the invention be limited by the specific examples provided within the specification. While the invention has been described with reference to the aforementioned specification, the descriptions and illustrations of the embodiments herein are not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. Furthermore, it shall be understood that all aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific depictions, configurations or relative proportions set forth herein which depend upon a variety of conditions and variables. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is therefore contemplated that the invention shall also cover any such alternatives, modifications, variations or equivalents. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/207,023, filed Jun. 7, 2023, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/986,764, filed Nov. 14, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/860,880, filed Jul. 8, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,629,344, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/538,783, filed Nov. 30, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/570,898, filed Sep. 13, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/144,832, filed Sep. 27, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,457,986, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/045,474, filed Jul. 25, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,344,329, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/872,499, filed Jan. 16, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,041,116, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/717,871, filed Sep. 27, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,951,386, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/752,641, filed Jun. 26, 2015, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/061,567, filed Oct. 8, 2014, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/017,558, filed Jun. 26, 2014, each of which applications is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62061567 | Oct 2014 | US | |
| 62017558 | Jun 2014 | US |
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| Parent | 17986764 | Nov 2022 | US |
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| Parent | 17860880 | Jul 2022 | US |
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| Parent | 17538783 | Nov 2021 | US |
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| Parent | 15872499 | Jan 2018 | US |
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| Parent | 15717871 | Sep 2017 | US |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 14752641 | Jun 2015 | US |
| Child | 15717871 | US |
