RNA abundance is a powerful indicator of the state of individual cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing can reveal RNA abundance with high quantitative accuracy, sensitivity and throughput. However, this approach captures only a static snapshot at a point in time, posing a challenge for the analysis of time-resolved phenomena such as embryogenesis or tissue regeneration. Here we show that RNA velocity-the time derivative of the gene expression state-can be directly estimated by distinguishing between unspliced and spliced mRNAs in common single-cell RNA sequencing protocols. RNA velocity is a high-dimensional vector that predicts the future state of individual cells on a timescale of hours. We validate its accuracy in the neural crest lineage, demonstrate its use on multiple published datasets and technical platforms, reveal the branching lineage tree of the developing mouse hippocampus, and examine the kinetics of transcription in human embryonic brain. We expect RNA velocity to greatly aid the analysis of developmental lineages and cellular dynamics, particularly in humans.

Oligodendrocytes have been considered as a functionally homogenous population in the central nervous system (CNS). We performed single-cell RNA-Seq on 5072 cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage from ten regions of the mouse juvenile/adult CNS. Twelve populations were identified, representing a continuum from Pdgfra+ oligodendrocyte precursors (OPCs) to distinct mature oligodendrocytes. Initial stages of differentiation were similar across the juvenile CNS, whereas subsets of mature oligodendrocytes were enriched in specific regions in the adult brain. Newlyformed oligodendrocytes were found to be resident in the adult CNS and responsive to complex motor learning. A second Pdgfra+ population, distinct from OPCs, was found along vessels. Our study reveals the dynamics of oligodendrocyte differentiation and maturation, uncoupling them at a transcriptional level and highlighting oligodendrocyte heterogeneity in the CNS. *Correspondence to: sten.linnarsson@ki.se, goncalo.castelo-branco@ki.se. Additional Author notes: SM, AZ, HL, WDR, SL and GC-B designed the experiments. PE, EA, JH-L, TH, WDR, SL and GC-B, senior authors, obtained funding. SM, AZ, SC, HH, RAR, DG, MH, AMM, GLM, FR, HL, LX, EF performed experiments. LX, HL and WDR have priority of observation of the rapid differentiation of oligodendrocytes in the complex motor wheel paradigm. SM, AZ, DvB, AMF, GLM, PL analysed data. SM, AZ, SL and GC-B wrote the paper, with the assistance and proofreading of all authors. Oligodendrocytes ensheath axons in the CNS, allowing rapid saltatory conduction and providing metabolic support to neurons. While a largely homogeneous oligodendrocyte population is thought to execute these functions throughout the CNS (1), these cells were originally described as morphologically heterogeneous (2). It is thus unclear if oligodendrocytes become morphologically diversified during maturation through interactions within the local environment, or if there is intrinsic functional heterogeneity (3-5). We analyzed 5072 transcriptomes of single cells expressing markers from the oligodendrocyte lineage, isolated from ten distinct regions of the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axis of the mouse juvenile and adult CNS (Fig. 1A and 1B). Biclustering analysis (6) ( Fig. S1B and S15), hierarchical clustering ( Fig. 1C) and differential expression analysis (Supporting File Supplementary Excel S1 and S2) led to the identification of thirteen distinct cell populations. t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbour Embedding (t-SNE) projection ( Fig. 2A) indicated a narrow differentiation path connecting OPCs and myelinforming oligodendrocytes, diversifying into six mature states, which was supported by pseudo-time analysis (Fig. S2A-B). Europe PMC Funders GroupOPCs co-expressed Pdgfra and Cspg4 (Figs. 2B, S1B and S10) and 10% co-expressed cell cycle genes ( Fig. S2E-F), consistent with a cell division turnover of 19 days in the juvenile cortex (7). Several genes identified in OPCs were previously associated with astrocytes/ radial glia (6) (Fabp7 an...

Summary Oligodendrocyte (OL) pathology is increasingly implicated in neurodegenerative diseases as OLs both myelinate and provide metabolic support to axons. In Multiple Sclerosis (MS), demyelination in the central nervous system (CNS) thus leads to neurodegeneration, but the severity of MS between patients is very variable. Disability does not correlate well with the extent of demyelination 1 , suggesting that other factors contribute to this variability. One such factor may be OL heterogeneity. Not all OLs are the same - mouse spinal cord OLs inherently produce longer myelin sheaths than cortical OLs 2 , and single cell analysis of mouse CNS identified further differences 3 , 4 . However, the extent of human OL heterogeneity and its possible contribution to MS pathology remains unknown. Here we performed single nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) from white matter (WM) areas of post mortem human brain both in control (Ctr) and MS patients. We identified sub-clusters of oligodendroglia in Ctr human WM, some similar to mouse, and defined new markers for these cell states. Strikingly, some sub-clusters were under-represented in MS tissue, while others were more prevalent. These differences in mature OL sub-clusters may indicate different functional states of OLs in MS lesions. Since this is similar in normal appearing white matter (NAWM), MS is a more diffuse disease than its focal demyelination suggests. Our findings of an altered oligodendroglial heterogeneity in MS may be important to understanding disease progression and developing therapeutic approaches.

RNA abundance is a powerful indicator of the state of individual cells, but does not directly reveal dynamic processes such as cellular differentiation. Here we show that RNA velocity-the time derivative of RNA abundance-can be estimated by distinguishing unspliced and spliced mRNAs in standard single-cell RNA sequencing protocols. We show that RNA velocity is a vector that predicts the future state of individual cells on a timescale of hours. We validate the accuracy of RNA velocity in the neural crest lineage, demonstrate its use on multiple technical platforms, reconstruct the branching lineage tree of the mouse hippocampus, and measure RNA kinetics in human embryonic brain. We expect RNA velocity to greatly aid the analysis of developmental lineages and cellular dynamics, particularly in humans.