This ocular atlas dataset is reported in the same manuscript as study SCP2298. The atlas was generated from the following three datasets, the anterior segment (SCP1841), the posterior segment (SCP2298) and the peripheral/macula retina (to be published soon). Each type from individual dataset was down sampled to 2000 nuclei before pooling and re-normalization. The cell type annotations from individual dataset were retained as “type” and similar types were grouped as “class”.

Although the visual system extends through the brain, the vast majority of vision loss originates from defects in the eye. Its central element is the neural retina, which senses light, processes visual signals, and transmits them to the rest of the brain through the optic nerve (ON). Surrounding the retina are numerous other structures, conventionally divided into anterior and posterior segments. Here we used high-throughput single nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) to classify and characterize cells in the extraretinal components of the posterior segment: ON, optic nerve head (ONH), peripheral and peripapillary sclera, choroid, and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Defects in each of these tissues are associated with blinding diseases – for example, glaucoma (ONH), optic neuritis (ON), retinitis pigmentosa (RPE), and age-related macular degeneration (RPE and choroid). From ~151,000 single nuclei, we identified 37 transcriptomically distinct cell types including multiple types of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells. Our analyses revealed a differential distribution of many cell types among distinct structures. Together with our previous analyses of the anterior segment and retina, the new data complete a “Version 1” cell atlas of the human eye. We used the atlas to map the expression of ~130 genes implicated in the pathogenesis of glaucoma, which is known to involve ocular tissues in both anterior and posterior segments as well as neural retina. Similar methods can now be used to investigate numerous additional ocular diseases, many of which are currently untreatable. The data in this study was generated by downsampling and pooling the single nuclei profiles from anterior segment, retina, and posterior segment.