Fig. 2
The majority of pre-pubertal epithelial cells exhibit a unique basal-like signature. a Whole-mount confocal 3D images (top panels) and optical sections (middle and bottom panels) of intact mammary ductal trees immunolabeled for Keratin 14 (green), Vimentin (red), and Keratin 8/18 (blue). Mammary glands were collected at 2 (left panels) and 9 weeks of age (right panels). Scale bars, 200 µm (top panels); 20 µm (bottom panels) (n = 3 mice per time point). Basal/myo indicates basal/myoepithelial cells in the outer layer. b Gene ontology terms upregulated in 2 vs. 5 week epithelial cells, based on differential expression analysis of the scRNA-seq profiles. c Gene ontology terms upregulated in 2 vs. 10 week epithelial cells. d KEGG pathways upregulated in 2 vs. 10 week epithelial cells. e Gene ontology terms downregulated at 5 vs. 10 weeks. f Protein interaction subnetwork of selected genes upregulated (red) in pre-pubertal cells relative to puberty. Node shape represents protein function (circle = signal transduction; square = transcription factor; rounded square = dual function, and triangle = none of the above). g Protein interaction subnetwork of selected genes downregulated (green) in pre-pubertal cells relative to puberty
