---
title: "mRNA-Seq whole-transcriptome analysis of a single cell"
authors: ["Tang F", "Barbacioru C", "Wang Y"]
year: 2009
journal: Nature Methods
type: paper
tags: [single-cell, rna-seq, transcriptomics]
cited_by: 4800
impact: foundational
---

# mRNA-Seq whole-transcriptome analysis of a single cell

## Summary

First demonstration of RNA-Seq at single-cell resolution. Opened new field of single-cell transcriptomics revealing cell-to-cell heterogeneity.

## [[Key Findings]]

- **Single-cell resolution**: Transcriptome from [[One]] mouse blastomere
- **Sensitivity**: [[Detected 75]]% of known transcripts
- **Heterogeneity**: Revealed expression variability in "identical" cells

## Methodology

Builds on [[Mortazavi2008-RNA-Seq]] with [[Single-Cell Isolation]] and [[Whole Transcriptome Amplification]].

## Relevance to My Work

Core method for [[Single-Cell RNA-Seq Analysis]] [[Project]]. [[Protocol]] adapted in [[Experiment-2024-11-15]].

## [[Related Work]]

- Extends [[Mortazavi2008-RNA-Seq]]
- Led to [[10x Genomics Platform]]
- [[Used In]] [[Cell-Type-Classification]]
