Single-cell RNA-seq of mouse thymus iNKT cells

Invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT) cells are innate-like T cells, selected from thymic cortex-resident CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) thymocytes. Despite major advances in the understanding of iNKT cells development, the heterogeneity of iNKT subsets and underlying molecular programs that guide iNKT cell-lineage remain unclear. We profiled the transcriptome patterns of individual mouse thymic iNKT cells across their developmental stages (stages 0 to 3) using a droplet-based single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) approach.恒定自然杀伤T细胞（invariant natural killer T cells，简称iNKT）是一类先天样T细胞，由胸腺皮质驻留的CD4+CD8+双阳性（double positive，DP）胸腺细胞发育选择而来。尽管目前学界对iNKT细胞的发育过程已取得重大进展，但iNKT细胞亚群的异质性以及调控其细胞谱系定向的潜在分子程序仍未明确。本研究采用液滴法单细胞RNA测序（droplet-based single-cell RNA-sequencing，scRNA-seq）技术，对小鼠胸腺内处于发育阶段0至3期的单个iNKT细胞的转录组模式进行了分析。