A lineage commitment checkpoint in early ILC development [single cell RNA-seq]

Understanding how cellular function is imprinted during development requires the identification of factors controlling lineage specification and commitment, and the intermediate progenitors in which they act. Using population level and single cell approaches, we examine transcriptional and functional heterogeneity within early innate lymphoid cells (ILC) progenitors. We identify a developmental bifurcation toward dendritic cell fate that reveals the uncommitted state of early specified ILC progenitors. We subsequently characterize an ILC-commitment checkpoint controlled by the transcription factor TCF-1. The present study reveals unexpected heterogeneity within early innate progenitor populations, and characterizes lineage infidelity that accompanies early ILC specification prior to commitment. transcriptional profiling of early ILC progenitors (EILP, ILCP), and common lymphoid progenitors (ALP) from WT or Tcf7 null mice was performed by RNA sequencing