Single-Cell RNA-Seq Mapping of Human Thymopoiesis Reveals Lineage Specification Trajectories and a Commitment Spectrum in T Cell Development.

ABSTRACT: The challenges in recapitulating in vivo human T cell development in laboratory models have posed a barrier to understanding human thymopoiesis. Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (sRNA-seq) to interrogate the rare CD34⁺ progenitor and the more differentiated CD34^- fractions in the human postnatal thymus. CD34⁺ thymic progenitors were comprised of a spectrum of specification and commitment states characterized by multilineage priming followed by gradual T cell commitment. The earliest progenitors in the differentiation trajectory were CD7^- and expressed a stem-cell-like transcriptional profile, but had also initiated T cell priming. Clustering analysis identified a CD34⁺ subpopulation primed for the plasmacytoid dendritic lineage

SUBMITTER: Le J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7388724 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature