Spatial transcriptomics and in silico random pooling identify novel dopamine neuron subtype markers

Defining the transcriptional profiles of substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons may reveal mechanisms underlying their differential vulnerabilities in Parkinson disease. Existing studies display extensive variability due to small sample sizes, resulting in troublingly few reproducible subtype-specific markers. We combine spatial transcriptomics (LCM-seq) on human tissue with an iterative, random pooling algorithm, that reveal novel genes which robustly identify dopamine neuron subtypes across species.