Single-cell sequencing in human genital infections

Abstract

Human genital infections are one of the most concerning issues worldwide and can be categorized into sexually transmitted, urinary tract and vaginal infections. These infections, if left untreated, can disseminate to the other parts of the body and cause more complicated illnesses such as pelvic inflammatory disease, urethritis, and anogenital cancers. The effective treatment against these infections is further complicated by the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in the genital infection causing pathogens. Furthermore, the development and applications of single-cell sequencing technologies have open new possibilities to study the drug resistant clones, cell to cell variations, the discovery of acquired drug resistance mutations, transcriptional diversity of a pathogen across different infection stages, to identify rare cell types and investigate different cellular states of genital infection causing pathogens, and to develop novel therapeutical strategies. In this chapter, I will provide a complete review of the applications of single-cell sequencing in human genital infections before discussing their limitations and challenges.