SRA

Molecular characterization of the individual neuron types existing in the primate dorsal root ganglion and the relation to model organisms used for studying somatosensation and pain is critical for understanding the cellular origin of chronic pain and for translational aspects of biomedical research. However, molecular insights into the primate dorsal root ganglion are missing and a systematic comparison of strategies for somatosensation between the mouse and primates is lacking. Here we classify non-human primate sensory neurons based on their transcriptome and identify neuronal types with heritability to chronic pain. We identify nine neuronal types and use machine learning to expose an overall cross-species conserved strategy and shared taxonomy for nociception, although with differences at individual gene level, highlighting the importance of incorporating primate knowledge for the successful translation of discoveries in rodent model organisms. Genomic loci implicated in chronic pain were mapped onto specific primate sensory neuron types to identify the cellular origin of chronic pain. The common-variant genome-wide association results for chronic pain point to the same cells at the same pain sites and concentrate on two different neuronal types between pain disorders, suggesting that causative cell types and molecular mechanisms are different between different pain conditions. Overall design: 6-8 Lumbar DRGs, 3 pairs of the biggest and one pair of anterior/posterior (L3-L7) extracted from two female Rhesus monkeys