A human cell atlas of fetal gene expression

The gene expression program underlying the specification of human cell types is of fundamental interest. We generated human cell atlases of gene expression and chromatin accessibility in fetal tissues. For gene expression, we applied three-level combinatorial indexing to >110 samples representing 15 organs, ultimately profiling ~4 million single cells. We leveraged the literature and other atlases to identify and annotate hundreds of cell types and subtypes, both within and across tissues. Our analyses focused on organ-specific specializations of broadly distributed cell types (such as blood, endothelial, and epithelial), sites of fetal erythropoiesis (which notably included the adrenal gland), and integration…

• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• UO
  University of Washington
• AB
  Adaptive Biotechnologies
• MT
  Maze Therapeutics
• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  Awards: SP1532/3-1, SP1532/4-1, SP1532/5-1
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: NICHD R24HD000836
• NO
  NIH Office of the Director

  Award: R01 DK119285