Molecular features of PDGFRa+ mesenchymal progenitors and progeny in the mammary gland

We performed RNA-seq on FACS-purified GFP+ and tdTomato+ stromal and luminal mammary populations from untreated and hormone stimulated adult PdgfraCreR26mTmG lineage tracing mice. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the top 20% most variable genes resulted in clustering of GFP+ and tdTomato+ stromal subsets into distinct groups. Distance-analysis of DEGs between GFP+ and tdTomato+ fractions in stromal and luminal lineages showed GFP+ stromal cells to have more similar transcriptomes to luminal cells than to tdTomato+ stroma. DEGs between GFP+ and tdTomato+ stromal subsets were enriched in pathways regulating Lysosomes, Focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interaction, Actin cytoskeleton and PI3K-Akt signaling. Hormone stimulation perturbed multiple cancer-associated pathways, as well as Endocytosis, Focal Adhesion and the Phosphatidylinositol System – all important in cell migration. Overall design: RNA-seq analysis of distinct mammary stromal subsets