E-cadherin marks the early commitment of murine hematopoietic progenitors to the basophil and mast cell fate

E-cadherin is a calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecule extensively studied for its involvement in tissue formation, epithelial cell behavior and suppression of cancer; however its expression in the hematopoietic system hasn't received much attention. Combining single-cell RNA sequencing analyses and immunophenotyping, we revealed expression of E-cadherin in the basophil and mast cell lineages. No defect in basophil and mast cell differentiation was observed in mice lacking E-cadherin in the hematopoietic system, supporting that E-cadherin is not required per se for basophil and mast cell differentiation. Yet, we evidenced that granulocyte-monocyte progenitors expressing high levels of E-cadherin have an enriched capacity to differentiate into basophils and mast cells. Importantly, E-cadherin expression is observed on committed progenitors prior to the expression of other reported markers of these lineages. We named those progenitors pro-BMPs (pro- basophil and mast cells progenitors). Using RNA-sequencing, we demonstrated the transcriptional priming of pro-BMPs to the basophil and mast cell lineages. Overall design: 4 hematopoietic populations (DN-GMPs, Pro-BMPs, Pre-BMPs, Basophils) were isolated from the bone marrow of 3 C57Bl/6J mice (independent triplicates) and RNAseq was performed.