ACME dissociation: a versatile cell fixation-dissociation method for single-cell transcriptomics

García-Castro, Helena; Kenny, Nathan J.; Iglesias, Marta; Álvarez Campos, Patricia; Mason, Vincent; Elek, Anamaria; Schönauer, Anna; Sleight, Victoria A.; Neiro, Jakke; Aboobaker, Aziz; Permanyer, Jon; Irimia Martínez, Manuel; Sebé-Pedrós, Arnau; Solana, Jordi

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13059-021-02302-5

ACME dissociation: a versatile cell fixation-dissociation method for single-cell transcriptomics

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García-Castro H, Kenny NJ, Iglesias M, Álvarez-Campos P, Mason V, Elek A et al. ACME dissociation: a versatile cell fixation-dissociation method for single-cell transcriptomics. Genome Biol. 2021 Apr 8;22(1):89. DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02302-5

Abstract

Single-cell sequencing technologies are revolutionizing biology, but they are limited by the need to dissociate live samples. Here, we present ACME (ACetic-MEthanol), a dissociation approach for single-cell transcriptomics that simultaneously fixes cells. ACME-dissociated cells have high RNA integrity, can be cryopreserved multiple times, and are sortable and permeable. As a proof of principle, we provide single-cell transcriptomic data of different species, using both droplet-based and combinatorial barcoding single-cell methods. ACME uses affordable reagents, can be done in most laboratories and even in the field, and thus will accelerate our knowledge of cell types across the tree of life.