Fig. 3: Mature fetal γδ thymocytes are committed to either a type 1, a type 3, or type 2-like effector fate.

A Projection of the egress, Type 3 (γδ17) and Type 1 (cytotoxicity) scores computed with distinct sets of genes (Supplementary Data 5); each cell is colored based on its individual score. B Dot plot heatmap displaying row-scaled Log2-fold change (logFC) expression values of selected DEGs in the comparison between the three distinct effector clusters. Each dot represents the average expression profile of all the cells in the effector cluster. C UMAP plots displaying expression levels of selected genes that allow a phenotypic characterization of the 3 effector clusters (type 1, type 3, and type 2-like clusters). D Box plot comparing PLZF expression levels in the distinct effector clusters; P values (two-tailed) were calculated by Wilcoxon test with Benjamin–Hochberg correction (type 1: n = 1461 cells, type 3: n = 1867 cells and type 2-like: n = 1054 cells). The three horizontal lines of the box–whisker plot represent the higher quartile, median, and lower quartile, respectively. The whiskers stretch from each quartile to the maximum or minimum. E, top panel: Abundance of sc effector cells across gestation time. E, bottom panel: Abundance of distinct sc effector cells (type 1, type 3, and type 2-like) across gestation time. R and p values (two-tailed) were determined by Spearman correlation. F UMAP plots derived from flow cytometry data indicating the expression levels of distinct surface markers; UMAP plots include 17,091 live CD3⁺ γδ⁺ thymocytes from 4 different thymuses; black circles are used to facilitate the location of the effector clusters: T1 = Type 1, T3 = Type 3, T2 = Type 2-like. Source data are provided as a Source data file. See also Supplementary Figs. 3–5.