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.