Visualization and analysis of gene expression in tissue sections by spatial transcriptomics
The authors introduce 'spatial transcriptomics,' a method that places thin histological tissue sections onto a glass surface arrayed with barcoded reverse-transcription primers, so that mRNA captured at each position retains its two-dimensional spatial coordinates. Sequencing the barcoded cDNA reconstructs genome-wide expression maps directly on the tissue image. They demonstrate the approach on mouse brain and human breast cancer sections, recovering spatially resolved transcriptomes that align with tissue morphology.