Gene expression analysis of adult and fetal T-cell progenitors

Development of T-cells provides a unique opportunity to study cell-fate determination due to the accessability and the well defined stages of development. In order to understand the genetic programs underlying fetal and adult T‑cell fate specification we subjected highly purified fetal and adult T-cell progenitor populations to a genome‑wide transcriptional analysis. The aim was to identify molecular elements that govern T-cell fate specification as a whole but ultimately to isolate elements that were specific for a given population in a specific developmental window. FACS purified ETP, DN2 and DN3 progenitor thymocytes from C57BL/6 adult mice and E14.5 embryos were hybridised to Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430A_2.0 GeneChip Arrays.