Introduction
Abstract
Accumulated evidence demonstrates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate cell differentiation and homeostasis, influencing kidney aging and disease. Despite their versatility, the function of lncRNA remain poorly understood due to the lack of a reference map of lncRNA transcriptome in various cell types. In this study, we employed a targeted single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) method to enrich and characterize lncRNAs in individual cells. We applied this method to various mouse tissues, including normal and aged kidneys, and generated a comprehensive single-cell lncRNA atlas (https://gist-fgl.github.io/sc-lncrna-atlas/). Through tissue-specific clustering analysis, we identified cell type-specific lncRNAs that showed a high correlation with known cell-type marker genes. Furthermore, we constructed gene regulatory networks (GRNs) to explore the functional roles of differentially expressed lncRNAs in each cell type. In the kidney, we observed dynamic expression changes of lncRNAs during aging, with specific changes in glomerular cells. These cell type- and age-specific expression patterns of lncRNAs provide insights into their potential roles in regulating cellular processes, such as immune response and energy metabolism, during kidney aging. Our study highlights the importance of lncRNAs in orchestrating gene expression networks in a cell type-specific manner and provides a valuable resource for further investigations into the functional significance of lncRNAs in diverse biological contexts.