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. 2021 Jun 7;118(24):e2103240118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2103240118

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Single-cell analysis of benign human kidney reveals novel nephron tubular epithelial cell types. (A) Single-cell atlas of human kidney. t-SNE plot of scRNA-seq data from 6,046 cells obtained from six benign kidney samples. Cell clusters found therein representing 26 cell types are shown. DL, descending limb; DCT, distal convoluted tubule; CNT, connecting duct; Mesa, mesangial cells; Podo, podocytes; Peri, pericytes; vSMC, vascular smooth muscle cells; Mono, monocytes; Macro, macrophages; NK, natural killer cells. (B) Violin plots depicting gene expression patterns of select cell type markers: PDZK1IP1 (all PT cells), ITGB8 (PT-B and -C), PIGR (PT-B and -C), CFH (PT-C), KLK6 (PT-C), CALB1 (IC-PC, CNT), AQP2 (PC), FOXI1 (IC-PC, IC-A, IC-B), and SLC4A1 (IC-PC, IC-A). (C) Trajectory analysis of the three PT cell clusters identified: the common PT-A and rare/novel PT-B and PT-C. (D) As in B except showing stem/progenitor cell markers (VCAM1, VIM, ICAM1) across different cell types. (E) Trajectory analysis of distal tubule IC, PC, and IC-PC populations. (F) Validation of PT-B, PT-C, and IC-PC cells in benign adjacent kidney by RNA-ISH dual staining. PT-B marker ITGB8 (Left) and PT-C marker CFH (Middle) in blue channel and pan-PT cell marker PDZK1IP1 in red channel. IC-PC marker CALB1 in blue channel and IC marker FOXI1 in red channel (Right). (Scale bars for all images, 50 μm.)