Whole-transcriptome analysis of endothelial-to-hematopoietic stem cell transition

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are generated via a natural transdifferentiation process known as endothelial-to-hematopoietic cell transition (EHT). Due to small numbers of embryonal arterial cells undergoing EHT and the paucity of markers to enrich for hemogenic endothelial cells, the genetic program driving HSC emergence is largely unknown. Here, we use a highly sensitive RNAseq method to examine the whole transcriptome of small numbers of enriched aortic HSCs (CD31+cKit+Ly6aGFP+), hemogenic endothelial cells (CD31+cKit-Ly6aGFP+) and endothelial cells (CD31+cKit-Ly6aGFP-). Comparison of mRNA profiles of endothelial cells, hemogenic endothelial cells, and hematopoietic stem cells generated by deep-sequencing of sorted populations from pool of embryos, in triplicate.