Long read single cell RNA sequencing reveals the isoform diversity of Plasmodium vivax transcripts

Abstract

Plasmodium vivax infections often consist of heterogenous populations of parasites at different developmental stages and with distinct transcriptional profiles, which complicates gene expression analyses. The advent of single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enabled disentangling this complexity and has provided robust and stage-specific characterization of Plasmodium gene expression. However, scRNA-seq information is typically derived from the end of each mRNA molecule (usually the 3’-end) and therefore fails to capture the diversity in transcript isoforms documented in bulk RNA-seq data. Here, we describe the sequencing of scRNA-seq libraries using Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) chemistry to characterize full-length Plasmodium vivax transcripts from single cell parasites. Our results show that many P. vivax genes are transcribed into multiple isoforms, primarily through variations in untranslated region (UTR) length or splicing, and that the expression of many isoforms is developmentally regulated. Our findings demonstrate that long read sequencing can be used to characterize mRNA molecules at the single cell level and provides an additional resource to better understand the regulation of gene expression throughout the Plasmodium life cycle.