Although mRNAs are localized in the processes of excitatory neurons, it is still unclear whether interneurons also localize a large population of mRNAs. In addition, the variability in the localized mRNA population within and between cell-types is unknown. Here we describe the unbiased transcriptomic characterization of the subcellular compartments of hundreds of single neurons. We separately profiled the dendritic and somatic transcriptomes of individual rat hippocampal neurons and investigated mRNA abundances in the soma and dendrites of single glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. We found that, like their excitatory counterparts, interneurons contain a rich repertoire of ~4000 mRNAs. We observed more cell type-specific features among somatic transcriptomes than their associated dendritic transcriptomes. Finally, using cell-type specific metabolic labelling of isolated neurites, we demonstrated that the processes of Glutamatergic and, notably, GABAergic neurons were capable of local translation, suggesting mRNA localization and local translation is a general property of neurons.
Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession code GSE157204
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Animal experimentation: The procedures involving animal treatment and care wereconducted in conformity with the institutional guidelines that are in compliance with thenational and international laws and policies (DIRECTIVE2010/63/EU; German animalwelfare law, FELASA guidelines) and approved by and reported to the local governmentalsupervising authorities (Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt). The animals were euthanizedaccording to annex 2 of {section sign}2 Abs. 2 Tierschutz-Versuchstier-Verordnung.
© 2021, Perez et al.
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