Fig. 2. Adipocyte progenitors develop into adipogenic and SWAT cells.

a, Adipogenic and SWAT branch-specific expression patterns of predicted secreted proteins, separated by origin from brown (supraclavicular + perirenal) and white (subcutaneous + visceral) depots. The SWAT branch is characterized by branch-specific expression of extracellular matrix components. The black box indicates no divergence in gene expression between branches. b, Transcription factors identified as increasing in expression in one branch over another are indicated on respective branches, at the stretched pseudotime point where the smoothed gene expression is observed to diverge. Inset images are from RNA FISH labelling in brown adipocytes of selected combinations of branch-specific transcription factors. Scale bar, 75 µm. c, Scellnetor analysis identified key transcriptional networks enriched in the adipogenic branch, confirming the role of several transcription factors identified above as involved in adipogenic cell-type development. d, Branch-specific transcription factor analysis performed independently for brown (perirenal + supraclavicular) and white (visceral + subcutaneous) depots. Colour scale indicates pseudotime point at which expression of a gene diverges between branches, and the black box indicates no divergence in gene expression between branches. A shared set of transcription factors characterize early differentiation across depots, whereas further differentiation proceeds through depot-specific transcription factors. TF, transcription factor.