The present invention provides methods and compositions for the analysis of
gene expression in single cells or in a plurality of single cells. The invention provides methods for preparing a
cDNA library from individual cells by releasing mRNA from each single
cell to provide a plurality of individual mRNA samples, synthesizing cDNA from the individual mRNA samples, tagging the individual cDNA,
pooling the tagged cDNA samples and amplifying the pooled cDNA samples to generate a
cDNA library. The invention also provides a
cDNA library produced by the methods described herein. The invention farther provides methods for analyzing
gene expression in a plurality of cells by preparing a cDNA
library as described herein and sequencing the
library.