The single cell RNA seq of pulmonary alveolar type II (AT2) cells

The pulmonary alveolar epithelium mainly composed of two types of epithelial cells: alveolar type I (AT1) and type II (AT2) cells. AT2 cells are the alveolar stem cells, and can differentiate into AT1 cells post-pneumonectomy (PNX). Here, we found that, compared with control mice (Sftpc-CreER; Cdc42flox/+; Rosa26-mTmG) at post-PNX day 21, Cdc42 AT2 null mice (Sftpc-CreER; Cdc42flox/-; Rosa26-mTmG) at post-PNX day 21 undergone fibrotic change. By using 10X genomics “Chromium Single Cell” technology, we performed single-cell RNA-seq analyses of AT2 cells of sham treated control mice (C0), AT2 cells of control mice at post PNX day 21 (C21) , AT2 cells of sham treated Cdc42 AT2 null mice (N0), and AT2 cells of Cdc42 AT2 null mice at post PNX day 21 (N21). The study identified a specific gene signature in AT2 cells of Cdc42 AT2 null mice at post PNX day 21 which is related to the fibrosis phenotype of Cdc42 AT2 null mice. Overall design: We performed 10X genomics single-cell RNA-seq of AT2 cells of sham treated control mice (C0), AT2 cells of control mice at post PNX day 21 (C21) , AT2 cells of sham treated Cdc42 AT2 null mice ( N0) and AT2 cells of Cdc42 AT2 null mice at post PNX day 21 (N21).