A single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the pigtail macaque lung

A single-cell RNA-seq atlas of five adult female Macaca nemestrina lungs profiles 61,323 cells across 37 types, showing strong lineage concordance with human lung.

• Why it matters: Pulmonary illness reshapes coordinated epithelial, endothelial, stromal, and immune programs, but the cellular diversity and molecular features of the pigtail macaque lung are not fully mapped for translational studies.
• What they did: Parenchymal lung tissue from five adult female pigtail macaques was dissociated and profiled with 10x Genomics 3' scRNA-Seq, with ambient RNA removal, QC, and integration using scVI/scANVI. Cell types were clustered and annotated, then mapped to the Level 4 Human Lung Cell Atlas via scArches and to the Rhesus Immune Reference Atlas via Seurat label transfer.
• The result: The atlas identifies major and rare epithelial, mesenchymal, endothelial, and immune populations, with HLCA level 4 concordance such as AT1 (96%) and AT2 (93%), and RIRA mapping with similar fidelity (e.g., alveolar macrophages and B cells at 99%). This enables reference-based studies of pathogenesis and vaccine or drug efficacy in this NHP lung model.

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