Does a cell’s gene expression always reflect its function?

M. Neşet Özel; Claude Desplan

doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00088-1

Does a cell’s gene expression always reflect its function?

M. Neşet Özel, Claude Desplan

Biology and Genomics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Abstract

Defining a cell’s ‘type’ by the RNA transcripts it expresses is popular in biological research, but evidence from zebrafish neurons suggests that transcriptionally similar cells can be functionally diverse.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	899-900
Number of pages	2
Journal	Nature
Volume	638
Issue number	8052
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00088-1
State	Published - Feb 27 2025

Keywords

Cell biology
Neuroscience
Transcriptomics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

Access to Document

10.1038/d41586-025-00088-1

Cite this

@article{c9094dc6500648a3ad33881ad68ee384,

title = "Does a cell{\textquoteright}s gene expression always reflect its function?",

abstract = "Defining a cell{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}type{\textquoteright} by the RNA transcripts it expresses is popular in biological research, but evidence from zebrafish neurons suggests that transcriptionally similar cells can be functionally diverse.",

keywords = "Cell biology, Neuroscience, Transcriptomics",

author = "{\"O}zel, {M. Ne{\c s}et} and Claude Desplan",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Springer Nature Limited 2025.",

year = "2025",

month = feb,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1038/d41586-025-00088-1",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "638",

pages = "899--900",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",