Transcriptome of Smooth Muscle Cells, Interstitial Cells of Cajal and PDGFRα+ Cells

Genome scale expression data on absolute numbers of gene isoforms offer essential clues for cellular functions and biological processes. Gastrointestinal (GI) motility is regulated by smooth muscle cells (SMC) closely contacted with interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) and fibroblast-like PDGFRα+ cells (PαC), forming an electrical syncytium. To uncover genetic identifies and cellular functions of the cells, we isolated these three cell populations from mouse small intestine and colon, obtained the transcriptome for each type of cells, and built each cell type transcriptome browser. To our knowledge, this is the first genetic resource providing a comprehensive reference for all mRNA transcripts expressed in these unique GI cell populations. Integration of these data with the UCSC genome browser revealed novel cell-specific markers, ion channel and transporter isoforms, and unique cellular and biological functions of these cells in GI physiology. Our transcriptome browsers bring new insight into the alternative expression of genes in different types of the cells and provides references for future functional studies. mRNA profiles of SMC, ICC and PDGFRa cells isolated from mouse jejunum and colon were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina Hiseq2000..