# From single-cell to cell-pool transcriptomes: stochasticity in gene expression and RNA splicing

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-marinov-single-cell-transcriptome-stochasticity-genome-res-2014/  
OnCo record `paper-marinov-single-cell-transcriptome-stochasticity-genome-res-2014` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A single-cell study that counted RNA molecules and found tens to hundreds of thousands of messenger RNA molecules in each cell.

## Summary

Using added RNA standards of known quantity on single lymphoblastoid cells, the authors estimate between 50,000 and 300,000 transcripts per cell.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Journal: Genome Research
- Year: 2014
- DOI: 10.1101/gr.161034.113
- Authors: Marinov GK, Williams BA, McCue K, et al.
- Findings: 50,000 to 300,000 mRNA molecules per cell.
- What it means: A cell holds far more RNA molecules than its two copies of each gene, which is the arithmetic behind adding RNA to a DNA blood test.
- Caveats: One cell line, not tumour cells; total transcripts, not one gene.

## Sources

- Marinov et al., Genome Res 2014: https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.161034.113
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24299736/

## Connected records

- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/)
- technologies: [Single-cell & spatial profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/single-cell-spatial/)
- ideas: [Read tumour RNA and tumour DNA from the same blood draw to find and type residual cancer](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-stack-ctdna-and-tumour-rna-residual-disease/)

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