About this Research Topic
All multicellular organisms are composed of a large number of cells with different types, ages, and life status. However, there is a fundamental lack of understanding in biology at the single cell level. How do individual cells work? How do single cells combine and collaborate to construct biological functions? How do metabolites reflect the status, functions, and behavior of individual cells?
More and more studies have demonstrated the cell-to-cell variability from genotypes to phenotypes. As the end products of cellular regulatory processes, metabolites are regarded as the link between genotypes to phenotypes, and they reflect the genetic and environmental changes of all biological systems. Unlike genetics and proteomitics research, the metabolomics studies of plants, particularly at single cell level, have been barely carried out. Fortunately, with the rapid development of modern analytical techniques, conducting metabolomic analysis of single plant cells becomes feasible.
This Research Topic will collect up-to-date metabolomic studies of plants at single cell level addressing questions, including, but not limited to, the following aspects:
a) Cell-to-cell variability
b) Chemical variations of cells in subpopulations
c) Cell metabolite changes reflecting the environment change or stress
d) Correlations between cell chemical compositions and biological functions
e) Cell-to-cell chemical communication
f) Analytical technology development
g) Advanced data analysis and mathematical modelling
h) Localization in multicellular environments
i) Multimodal cell imaging/profiling (RNA, proteins, metabolites)
More and more studies have demonstrated the cell-to-cell variability from genotypes to phenotypes. As the end products of cellular regulatory processes, metabolites are regarded as the link between genotypes to phenotypes, and they reflect the genetic and environmental changes of all biological systems. Unlike genetics and proteomitics research, the metabolomics studies of plants, particularly at single cell level, have been barely carried out. Fortunately, with the rapid development of modern analytical techniques, conducting metabolomic analysis of single plant cells becomes feasible.
This Research Topic will collect up-to-date metabolomic studies of plants at single cell level addressing questions, including, but not limited to, the following aspects:
a) Cell-to-cell variability
b) Chemical variations of cells in subpopulations
c) Cell metabolite changes reflecting the environment change or stress
d) Correlations between cell chemical compositions and biological functions
e) Cell-to-cell chemical communication
f) Analytical technology development
g) Advanced data analysis and mathematical modelling
h) Localization in multicellular environments
i) Multimodal cell imaging/profiling (RNA, proteins, metabolites)
Keywords: Single Cell, Cell-to-cell Variation, Metabolomics, Mass Spectrometry Imaging
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