Molecular signatures of cell diversity modulated by long noncoding RNAs in the human fetal spinal cord.

The human spinal cord controls sophisticated sensory perception and motor response across its extensive length. However, the spatial and temporal regulation of the generation of various motor neurons (MNs) and glial cells remains obscure. Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-cell Stereo RNA sequencing (scStereo RNA-seq), we here investigated and annotated molecular signatures of three neural stem cell (NSC) lineages, MNs, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, in the human fetal spinal cord from gestational week 8 (GW8) to GW12. We also found that some long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have overlapping or reciprocal expression patterns with their adjacent coding genes, which are enriched with the promoter, enhancer, and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) in the same cell cluster. Our study generated a rich spatial expression library of molecular diversity of lncRNAs and their adjacent genes in neurons and glia in the human fetal spinal cord.