DNBelab C Series: Powering a Record-Breaking Year in Single Cell Science
Driving Record-Breaking Advances in Single-Cell Science
The year 2025 saw remarkable advances in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology. In immunology, scRNA-seq demonstrated clear clinical utility, enabling comprehensive characterisation of immune cell dynamics and therapeutic responses at single-cell resolution. Optimised sample preparation and technical refinements also extended its application to plant specimens, revolutionising plant biology research through unprecedented insight into cellular heterogeneity. Meanwhile, the integration of spatial transcriptomics with scRNA-seq reached new heights, allowing subcellular mapping of gene expression within tissue architecture.
2025 was a watershed year for MGI’s DNBelab C Series single-cell products. Over the course of the year, the DNBelab C platform powered 155 SCI publications, including landmark papers in Nature and Cell. This single-year output exceeded the combined total of the previous five years, bringing the platform’s cumulative publication record to 282 SCI papers.
World's First 10-Million-Cell Immune Atlas Unveiled
But numbers only tell part of the story. The real narrative lies in what scientists actually discovered. We have selected a number of ground-breaking scientific achievements to share with you. The immune system has long been a “black box”—we knew it protected us, but couldn’t see how its billions of cells truly operated. Now, a ground-breaking 10-million-cell atlas is turning on the lights, offering the first high-resolution navigation map of human immunity in the AI era.
Precision Mapping
Decoding the Command System
AI-Powered
From Somatic Cell to Seedling: Decoding Plant Regeneration
This milestone demonstrates a new paradigm for digital life research. Phase II will expand to major disease cohorts, paving the way for “virtual cell” models & digital disease prediction. Among the year’s most celebrated achievements was a Cell paper that finally answered a question that biologists had pondered for decades: How does a single plant somatic cell rewind its developmental clock to become a complete, totipotent organism?
Researchers from Shandong Agricultural University and BGI-Research used the DNBelab C Series to perform time-resolved single-nucleus RNA sequencing, capturing the exact moment when a leaf epidermal cell transforms into a somatic embryo founder cell (SEFC). They discovered that the transcription factor LEC2 acts as the molecular switch, triggering auxin biosynthesis through specific gene modules to initiate this “cellular time travel.” What makes this discovery extraordinary is not merely its fundamental importance—it demonstrated that plant cells possess a latent capacity for regeneration that can be precisely mapped and potentially harnessed. For agriculture, this opens pathways to rapid propagation of elite crop varieties.
- ✓ LEC2-mediated direct reprogramming: LEC2 directly reprograms single cotyledon epidermal cells into somatic embryo founder cells (SEFCs) through stimulus-induced accumulation of endogenous auxin.
- ✓ Synergistic auxin biosynthesis activation: LEC2 cooperates with SPCH to activate TAA1 and YUC4, driving localized auxin production that promotes SEFC formation.
- ✓ Cell lineage mapping: Combined snRNA-seq and LCM-RNA-seq analyses delineate the cellular lineage trajectory underlying SEFC formation.
- ✓ Transcriptional reprogramming and gene modules: Transcriptional reconfiguration and dynamically co-regulated gene modules direct cell fate bifurcation toward somatic embryogenesis.
From Cells to Space: scRNA-seq × Stereo-seq
A landmark Cell study unveils the first single-cell spatial transcriptome atlas of the macaque claustrum—a thin, mysterious brain structure connecting nearly all cortical regions. Integrating single-nucleus RNA sequencing (DNBelab C4) and Stereo-seq spatial transcriptomics, researchers profiled 227,000+ cells across 48 transcriptomically-defined cell types, combined with whole-brain retrograde tracing across 74 brain regions.
The study reveals the claustrum comprises four projection-selective zones (PSZs), each acting as specialized information hubs with distinct connectivity preferences for prefrontal, visual, memory, and motor networks. Cross-species analysis identifies primate-specific glutamatergic neurons (GNB4-positive) that may support advanced cognitive evolution. Notably, transcriptomic similarities between claustral and insular neurons confirm their shared developmental origins.
This work establishes the first integrated single-cell spatial (Stereo-seq) and connectomic database for primate claustrum research (macaque.digital-brain.cn), providing unprecedented resources for understanding consciousness mechanisms and neurological disorders. As researchers emphasize, these findings “provide novel insights into the evolutionary mechanisms underlying human consciousness”
The DNBelab C4 Advantage: One Platform, Unlimited Biological Frontiers
The diversity of 2025 research achievements highlights DNBelab C4’s exceptional adaptability across different fields. From oncology and neuroscience to immunology, organ development, and plant biology, the platform consistently delivers high-quality data regardless of sample complexity. This versatility stems from its optimized chemistry compatible with diverse tissue types—from fragile human organoids to rigid plant cell walls—enabling researchers to pursue questions across the tree of life without platform switching or protocol re-validation.
In mid-2025, MGI unveiled the next-generation automated single-cell RNA library preparation platform, YellowR 16, at ESHG. This system enables fully automated workflow from cell suspension to DNB generation, maximizing the elimination of technical variability inherent in traditional cross-disciplinary research.
By automating the entire library preparation process, YellowR 16 removes human error, ensures batch-to-batch consistency, and significantly increases throughput—allowing laboratories to scale their single-cell studies without scaling personnel. We believe this advancement will further democratize cellomics research, making standardized, high-quality single-cell sequencing accessible to every laboratory worldwide.
Published 3 March 2026
