Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41593231›Full record

ArticleNature biotechnology2026

Single-cell proteomic landscape of the developing human brain.

Tianzhi Wu, Lihua Jiang, Tanzila Mukhtar, Li Wang, Ruiqi Jian, Cheng Wang, Tiffany Trinh, Arnold R Kriegstein, Michael Snyder, Jingjing Li

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature biotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  3. Active zone plasticity couples sleep need to presynaptic hypophosphorylation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Tianzhi Wu *Department of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Lihua Jiang *Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Tanzila MukhtarDepartment of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Li WangDepartment of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Ruiqi JianDepartment of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2406-5303
Cheng WangDepartment of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Tiffany TrinhDepartment of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-3865-2921
Arnold R KriegsteinDepartment of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. arnold.kriegstein@ucsf.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5742-2990
Michael SnyderDepartment of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. mpsnyder@stanford.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0784-7987
Jingjing LiDepartment of Neurology, The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. jingjing.li@ucsf.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6025-9522

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Profiling protein abundance and dynamics at single-cell resolution in complex human tissues is challenging. Given the discordance between transcript and protein abundance observed in studies of the human cerebral cortex, we developed an optimized workflow that combines label-free single-cell mass spectrometry with precise sample preparation to resolve quantitative proteomes of individual cells from the developing human brain. Our method achieves deep proteomic coverage (~800 proteins per cell) even in small immature prenatal human neurons (diameter ~7-10 μm, ~50 pg protein), capturing major brain cell types and enabling proteome-wide characterization at single-cell resolution. We document extensive transcriptome-proteome discordance across cell types, particularly in genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Proteins exhibit markedly higher cell-type specificity than their mRNA counterparts, underscoring the importance of proteomic-level analysis. By reconstructing developmental trajectories from radial glia to excitatory neurons at the proteomic level, we identify dynamic, stage-specific protein co-expression modules and pinpoint the intermediate progenitor-to-neuron transition as a genetically vulnerable phase associated with autism.

Indexed as

BrainProteomeProteomicsSingle-Cell AnalysisHumansNeurodevelopmentNeuronsSingle-Cell Gene Expression AnalysisTranscriptomeProteome

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.