Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of the developing zebrafish heart.

While scRNA-seq technology has advanced significantly, a comprehensive analysis of vertebrate heart development from early to late developmental stages is still lacking. We profiled over 34,000 cells from resected zebrafish hearts spanning 10 developmental stages from 25 hours to 60 days post-fertilization.

We identified and sub-clustered all known cardiac cell types, revealing distinct proliferation dynamics. We also analysed the cardiac interactome, focusing on the ligand-receptor interactions between myocardial and endocardial cells. By investigating later stages, we discovered novel marker genes, which appears to be enriched in trabecular cardiomyocytes.