China Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Medicine ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (1): 15-26.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2026.01.002

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research Progress on the Application of Single-cell Sequencing Technology in Livestock and Poultry Genetic Breeding

CHAI Yuan1,2(), BAO Chenglin1,2, ZHANG Lingyan1,2, GONG Shuyan1,2, QI Chelimuge1,2, BAO Yanchun3,4, ZHU Meng1,2, CAO Sai1,2, LI Jiangong1,2, YU Guojie1,2, LIN Jingkai1,2, ZHANG Wenguang3,4,5()   

  1. 1.Department of Modern Animal Husbandry Engineering and Technology,Xing’an Polytechnic University,Xing’an 137400,China
    2.Inner Mongolia Engineering Research Center of Modern Husbandry,Xing’an 137400,China
    3.College of Animal Science and Technology,Inner Mongolia Agricultural University,Hohhot 010018,China
    4.Inner Mongolia Engineering Research Center of Genomic Big Data for Agriculture,Hohhot 010018,China
    5.College of Life Sciences,Inner Mongolia Agricultural University,Hohhot 010018,China
  • Received:2025-04-10 Online:2026-01-05 Published:2025-12-27
  • Contact: ZHANG Wenguang E-mail:m15248089421@163.com;atcgnmbi@aliyun.com

Abstract:

Cells are the fundamental units that make up living organisms, possessing unique developmental trajectories and molecular features. Single cell sequencing technology, as an efficient method for analyzing genetic information at the cellular level, can sequence the genome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and epigenetics, and support integrated analysis strategies such as multi-omics sequencing to accurately capture the molecular characteristics of individual cells. This technology breaks through the limitations of traditional population cell research, and has become a powerful tool for analyzing the molecular regulatory mechanisms and cell fate transition trajectories of animal cells, providing a new perspective for animal genetics breeding. The artical focuses on five single-cell sequencing technologies—Single-cell RNA sequencing, single-cell DNA sequencing, single-cell epigenome sequencing, single-cell proteomics sequencing, and single-cell metabolomics sequencing, systematically elaborates on the developmental history and underlying principles, and discusses in depth the application cases of single-cell sequencing technology in livestock and poultry genetic breeding, aiming to provide a theoretical reference for subsequent research in this field.

Key words: single cell sequencing; multi-omics; livestock and poultry genetic breeding

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