Next Generation Sequencing Facilitates Quantitative Analysis of mesoderm posterior bHLH transcription factor 1(MESP1)+ and MESP1- cells' Transcriptomes

Purpose: To compare the transcriptome of MESP1-mTomato reporter cells at undifferentiated state, cardiac differentiation day 3 and day 5.Methods: total RNA from sorted MESP1+, MESP1- and HESCs (in biological duplicates) was extracted using RNeasy Plus Mini Kit (Qiagen) and treated with RNase free DNase. RNA library was prepared following the instruction of TruSeq™ RNA Sample Preparation kit (Illumina) and sequenced on Illumina HiSeq 2000.Results: genes differentially expressed in MESP1-mTomato+ and mTomato- cells were identified.Conclusions: the gene expression profile of MESP1-mTomato cells indicates that they are cardiovascular progenitor cells.