Using single-cell RNA sequencing to generate cell-type-specific split-GAL4 reagents throughout development

Cell-type-specific tools facilitate the identification and functional characterization of distinct cell types, which underly the complexity of neuronal circuits. A large collection of existing genetic tools in Drosophila relies on enhancer activity to label different subsets of cells. These enhancer-based GAL4 lines often fail to show a predicable expression pattern to reflect the expression of nearby gene(s), partly due to an incomplete capture of the full gene regulatory elements. While genetic intersectional technique such as the split-GAL4 system further improve cell-type-specificity, it requires significant time and resource to generate and screen through combinations of enhancer expression patterns. In addition, since existing enhancer-based split-GAL4 lines that show cell-type-specific labeling in adult are not necessarily active nor specific in early development, there is a relative lack of tools for the study of neural development. Here, we use an existing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) dataset to select gene pairs and provide an efficient pipeline to generate cell-type-specific split-GAL4 lines based on the native genetic regulatory elements. These gene-specific split-GAL4 lines can be generated from a large collection of coding intronic MiMIC/CRIMIC lines either by embryo injection or in vivo cassette swapping crosses and/or CRISPR knock-in at the N or C terminal of the gene. We use the developing Drosophila visual system as a model to demonstrate the high prediction power of scRNAseq-guided gene specific split-GAL4 lines in targeting known cell types. The toolkit allows efficient cluster annotation in scRNAseq datasets but also the identification of novel cell types. Lastly, the gene-specific split-GAL4 lines are broadly applicable to Drosophila tissues. Our work opens new avenues for generating cell-type-specific tools for the targeted manipulation of distinct cell types throughout development and represents a valuable resource to the fly research community. Significance Statement Understanding the functional role of individual cell types in the nervous systems has remained a major challenge for neuroscience researchers, partly due to incomplete identification and characterization of underlying cell types. To study the development of individual cell types and their functional roles in health and disease, experimental access to a specific cell type is often a prerequisite. Here, we establish an experimental pipeline to generate gene-specific split-GAL4 guided by single-cell RNA sequencing datasets. These lines show high accuracy for labeling targeted cell types from early developmental stages to adulthood and can be applied to any tissues in Drosophila. The collection of gene-speicifc-split-GAL4 will provide a valuable resource to the entire fly research community.

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