Single cell analysis of wheat spike development

This preprint wins the award for “most beautiful paper” this week. Xu, Lin et al. carried out an expression analysis of developing wheat spikes at three developmental stages, using both single-cell RNA sequencing and single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH). The wheat spike is the inflorescence where the grain ultimately forms, so it is responsible for producing a large proportion of human calories. The authors clustered genes by expression patterns and mapped some of them onto the tissue using smFISH. This enabled them to identify how gene expression patterns change during the development of the spikelet, and also to identify candidate genes that might control the size of the spike and number of flowers it could potentially form, opening the door to developing wheat with more grain per spike. There’s a wealth of information here and in the supplemental data, so if you’re interested in reproductive development you can see where your favorite genes are expressed in wheat. Everyone else can simply enjoy looking at these gorgeous images. (Summary by Mary Williams @PlantTeaching.bsky.social) bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.15.638402