Tissue tuft cell mRNA sequencing

The goal of the study was to sequence mRNA from tuft cells (identified as CD45-;EpCAM+;IL-25+ using Flare25 reporter mice) in the epithelia of 5 different murine tissues: trachea, thymus, colon, gall baldder, small intestine. As a control, non-tuft epithelial cells (CD45-;EpCAM+;IL-25-) were also isolated. The data were used to identify differentially expressed genes across tuft cells from different tissues and to define a transcriptional tuft cell "signature" that is common to all tissues analyzed but absent in the non-tuft epithelial cells. Four replicates of tuft cells were sorted from each of the 5 tissues. As a reference, four replicates of non-tuft cells were also sorted from the small intestine. One tuft replicate from the small intestine and one from the gall bladder were discarded because they failed QC. One non-tuft replicate was also discarded because of failed QC