Figure 2.

Thymic epithelium and DCs are strongly enriched in c-kit⁻γ_c⁻ mice. Wild-type (A), c-kit⁻γ_c⁺ (B), c-kit⁺γ_c⁻ (C), and c-kit⁻γ_c⁻ (D) postnatal-day-5 thymi were analyzed for cells expressing CD45 vs. CD11c (A–D), or CD45 vs. Mac-1 (E) to distinguish thymic stroma (CD45⁻CD11c⁻) from thymocytes (CD45⁺CD11c⁻) and DCs (CD45⁺CD11c⁺). Thymocytes are the major cell population in wild-type (A), single c-kit (B), and single γ_c (C) mutants. CD45⁻CD11c⁻ stromal cells and CD45⁺CD11c⁺ DCs are strongly enriched in c-kit⁻γ_c⁻ mice (D) (stroma: ≈85% in c-kit⁻γ_c⁻ vs. ≈3% in wild-type mice; DC: ≈12% in c-kit⁻γ_c⁻ vs. ≈1% in wild-type mice). In double-mutants, cells gated as CD45⁺CD11c⁻ are mostly monocytes (CD45⁺Mac-1⁺) (E).