Transcriptional profile of mouse nephron progenitor cells

In developing mammalian kidney, nephron progenitor cells (NPC) give rise to all cells in mature nephrons. Expression of the transcription factor Six2 marks NPC in developing mouse kidneys. Within the Six2+ cell population, uncommitted NPC is marked by Cited1 expression. Towards the depletion of NPC in P2, most of the Cited1+ NPC is committed. Therefore, most of the Six2+ cells in kidney represents committed NPC. In order to explore the mechanism of NPC self-renewal and differentiation, hereby we generated transcriptionl profiles of uncommitted NPC (Cited1RFP+ cells from kidneys of E16.5 Cited1tagRFP transgenic mice) and committed NPC (Six2GFP+ cells from kidneys of P2 Six2TGC transgenic mice). To obtain transcriptional profile of the target cells, we performed mRNA-Seq of cells purified from transgenic mouse kidneys (Six2TGC, Cited1tagRFP) using FACS.