Fig. 2: Thy1⁺ basal epidermal keratinocytes display self-renewal capacity.

a Heatmap of absolute gene expression (RPKM values) scaled by gene based on bulk RNA-seq data comparing sorted populations of α6⁻Sca1^lowThy1⁺ dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) [n = 4 mice], α6⁺Sca1⁻CD34⁺ hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) [n = 5 mice], α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1⁺ keratinocytes [n = 4 mice] and α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1⁻ keratinocytes [n = 4 mice]. b Principal component analysis (PCA) showing PC-1 and PC-2 from RNA-seq data of sorted populations [n = 5 pooled mice]. c–e Co-immunostaining of Thy1 with (c) keratin-5 (Krt5), (d) Col17a1 and (e) Integrin-α6 (Itgα6) in sections of WT telogenic (P56) dorsal skins [n = 5 mice]. White arrowheads indicate cells expressing high levels of Thy1. f Gene ontology (GO) analysis of α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1^hi vs. α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1⁻ populations. Statistical testing was performed using the Wallenius’ distribution. g Images of holoclones grown 3 weeks post-plating of sorted α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1⁻, α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1^hi, and α6⁺Sca1⁻CD34⁺ cells. h Rhodanile Blue staining of α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1⁻ keratinocytes, α6⁺Sca1⁻CD34⁺ HFSCs and α6⁺Sca1⁺Thy1^hi cultures at passage 4 [n = 3 individual cultures each]. i Quantification for mean number of colonies formed during passaging [n = 3 individual cultures each]. Error bars represent ±S.E.M. All source data are provided as a Source Data file. Dashed white lines demarcate the epidermis/dermis boundary. Scale bars: 50 μm (c–e, g).