Single-cell full-length transcriptome of human lung reveals genetic effects on isoform regulation beyond gene-level expression

Abstract

Genetic regulation of splicing uniquely contributes to trait-associated genome-wide association studies (GWAS) signals. However, quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis using short-read sequencing of bulk tissues fails to capture full-length and cell-type-specific isoforms. Here, we present an isoform-level lung cell atlas from 129 never-smoking Korean women using single-cell long-read RNA-sequencing, identifying abundant unannotated and cell-type-specific isoforms. Isoform-level signatures of 37 lung cell types display a larger difference and therefore improve cell-type classification compared to gene-level expression. Notably, isoform-QTLs (isoQTLs) detect unannotated and/or cell-type-specific isoforms with independent genetic regulation from expression-QTL (eQTL), supported by enriched splicing functional elements. IsoQTLs nominate susceptibility isoforms from previously unexplained lung function and cancer GWAS loci, via eQTL-independent signals. We highlight a potentially functional novel variant of PPIL6 in multiciliated cells underlying lung cancer risk through alternative splicing. This isoform-level resource advances our understanding of cell-type-specific isoform regulation and its contribution to lung traits and diseases.