Single-cell RNA-Sequencing maps the hematopoietic landscape in naked mole-rats [Xeno]

Naked mole-rats are a mammalian model organism of exceptional longevity. We mapped the hematopoietic hierarchy and used functional characterizations to define a purified stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) compartment similar to mouse LIN-/Sca-1+/Kit+ HSPCs or human LIN-/CD34+/CD38lo HSPCs. Overall design: Naked mole-rat cells were sorted according to functionally characterized immunophenotypes (CP1 or LTC) which correspond to hematopoietic stem and progenitor subsets. Live cells were transplanted into 2.5Gy irradiated NSGS immunodeficient hosts, marrow from hindlimbs was extracted 4 weeks post xenotranplantation. FACS-purification was used to enrich the graft within the mouse host marrow, in parallel FACS-antibodies were conjugated to oligo-ADT tags to quantify surface marker binding as described for CITE-Seq. The mRNA libraries were aligned to both a mouse genome reference and the FRAMA bone marrow transcriptome assembly from our publication to exclude any host cells. Note: Raw data represents only gene expresion (GEX). Raw data for ADT not included.