Human Cell Map 2.0 Adds 9 Donors and Doubles Its Cell Count

Tabula Sapiens is a human reference atlas built by removing multiple organs from the same person at the same time and measuring single-cell transcriptomes. A consortium led by Stanford University and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub in the United States reported Tabula Sapiens 2.0, an expanded version of the atlas, in Cell.

Multiple organs collected from the same person

This version adds data from 9 donors, doubling the number of cells and including 4 new tissue types. Notably, 4 of the new donors provided multiple organs, so the data allow organ-to-organ differences to be compared under identical genetic background, age and epigenetic effects. Altogether the atlas covers more than 20 organs and tissues.

The researchers showed that transcripts for nearly all human transcription factors are detected in the data, offering clues to estimate which cell types each transcription factor is mainly used in. Looking at cells that switched on marker genes of cellular senescence, they found that the senescent state varies by tissue and context, which makes it hard to define senescent cells with a single marker.

Limitations

With only a few dozen donors, the atlas does not represent the whole population, and cells that break easily during tissue dissociation may be underrepresented. Because the estimates are transcriptome-based, protein-level function needs separate confirmation.