Newly defined Human Hematopoietic Stem Cell Populations

Purpose: to compare the transcriptomic profile of the two most primitive human EPCR+ stem and CD90+EPCR- progenitor populations. Methods: cells were obtained from human cord-blood and flow-sorted using the surface antigens described. 5 EPCR+ and 4 CD90+EPCR- biological replicates were used to extract total RNA and quality was verified (RIN >8). Libraries were prepared using with 20-25 ng/sample of starting RNA. All samples were sequenced two independent times. Conclusions: this study represents the first analysis of transcriptomes from the two most primitive human stem/progenitor populations, with biologic replicates, generated by RNA-seq technology. The optimized data analysis workflows reported here should provide a framework for comparative investigations of expression profiles of other human blood stem/progenitor populations. Overall design: Transcriptomic profiling (RNA-seq) of the two most primitive human stem (CD34+CD38-CD45RA-EPCR+; hereafter EPCR+) and progenitor (CD34+CD38-CD45RA-CD90+EPCR-; hereafter CD90+EPCR-) populations.