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A spatiotemporal organ-wide gene expression and cell atlas of the developing human heart

The process of cardiac morphogenesis in humans is incompletely understood. Its full characterization requires a deep exploration of the organ-wide orchestration of gene expression with a single-cell spatial resolution. Here, we present a molecular approach that reveals the comprehensive transcriptional landscape of cell types populating the embryonic heart at three developmental stages, and which maps cell type-specific gene expression to specific anatomical domains. Spatial Transcriptomics identified unique gene profiles corresponding to distinct anatomical regions in each developmental stage. Human embryonic cardiac cell types identified by single-cell RNA-sequencing confirmed and enriched the spatial annotation of embryonic cardiac gene expression. In situ sequencing was then used to refine these results and create spatial subcellular map for the three developmental phases. Finally, we generated a publicly available web resource of the human developing heart to facilitate future studies on human cardiogenesis.

Click on a Dataset ID in the table below to learn more, and to find out who to contact about access to these data

Dataset ID Description Technology Samples
EGAD00001005468 Illumina HiSeq 2500 NextSeq 500 21
Publications Citations
Direct coculture of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells with epicardial cells induces cardiomyocyte proliferation and reduces sarcomere organization.
J Mol Cell Cardiol 162: 2022 144-157
12
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing (scRNA-seq) in Cardiac Tissue: Applications and Limitations.
Vasc Health Risk Manag 17: 2021 641-657
12
A comprehensive comparison on cell-type composition inference for spatial transcriptomics data.
Brief Bioinform 23: 2022 bbac245
58
A transposable element into the human long noncoding RNA CARMEN is a switch for cardiac precursor cell specification.
Cardiovasc Res 119: 2023 1361-1376
8
The Imageable Genome.
Nat Commun 14: 2023 7329
4
<i>Kcnh2</i> deletion is associated with rat embryonic development defects via destruction of KCNH2‑integrin β1 complex.
Int J Mol Med 53: 2024 14
1
CIRI-Deep Enables Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Circular RNAs with Deep Learning.
Adv Sci (Weinh) 11: 2024 e2308115
10
Keratin 19 (Krt19) is a novel marker gene for epicardial cells.
Front Genet 15: 2024 1385867
2
Current and future perspectives of single-cell multi-omics technologies in cardiovascular research.
Nat Cardiovasc Res 2: 2023 20-34
9
Cardiac fibroblasts regulate myocardium and coronary vasculature development in the murine heart via the collagen signaling pathway.
Elife 13: 2025 RP102305
3
Automated integration of multi-slice spatial transcriptomics data in 2D and 3D using VR-Omics.
Genome Biol 26: 2025 182
2
Tissue microenvironment dictates the state of human iPSC-derived endothelial cells of distinct developmental origin in 3D cardiac microtissues.
iScience 28: 2025 113611
0