Tissue and cellular spatiotemporal dynamics in colon aging
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Tissue structure and molecular circuitry in the colon can be profoundly impacted by systemic age-related effects but many of the underlying molecular cues remain unclear. Here, we build a cellular and spatial atlas of the colon across three anatomical regions and 11 age groups, encompassing ~1,500 mouse gut tissues profiled by spatial transcriptomics and ~400,000 single nucleus RNA-sequencing profiles. We develop a computational framework, cSplotch, which learns a hierarchical Bayesian model of spatially resolved cellular expression associated with age, tissue region and sex by leveraging histological features to share information across tissue samples and data modalities. Using this model, we identify cellular and molecular gradients along the adult colonic tract and across the main crypt axis and multicellular programs associated with aging in the large intestine. Our multimodal framework for the investigation of cell and tissue organization can aid in the understanding of cellular roles in tissue-level pathology.
Source: Nature Biotechnology
Institutions: New York Genome Center, Flatiron Institute, Human Technopole, Broad Institute, Science for Life Laboratory, Klarman Cell Observatory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Genentech, New York University, Uppsala University, Columbia University
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Funders: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Broad Institute, Flatiron Health, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Svenska Sällskapet för Medicinsk Forskning, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Uppsala Universitet, Science for Life Laboratory, Klarman Cell Observatory, Broad Institute, National Institute on Aging, National Human Genome Research Institute
OpenAlex ID: W4415407390