Fig. 4: The mural cell subclusters have two pseudotime lineage directions in mouse TMJ disc.

a UMAP plot of TMJ disc cells. Mural cells (MCs) are marked in red. b UMAP plot of reclustered MC subpopulations according to the Methods, MC1: multipotent MC cluster, MC2: immune-related MC cluster, MC3: smooth muscle-related MC cluster 1, MC4: cell differentiation-related MC cluster, MC5: smooth muscle-related MC cluster 2, and MC6: smooth muscle-related MC cluster 3. MCs were annotated using a combination of GO and manual annotation. c Heatmap of multipotent differentiation genes in 6 MC subclusters. Heatmap depicting the average gene expression of multipotent differentiation genes associated with the GO terms that were enriched in MC1. Selected GO terms: ‘mesenchymal cell differentiation’, ‘vasculogenesis’, ‘branching involved in blood vessel morphogenesis’, ‘artery morphogenesis’, ‘endothelial cell migration’, ‘smooth muscle cell differentiation negative’, ‘regulation of osteoclast differentiation’, ‘regulation of osteoclast differentiation’, and ‘vascular associated smooth muscle cell differentiation’. d Trajectory order of the MC populations by pseudotime value. e Monocle analysis of MCs revealed developmental bifurcation. f Deconvolution of the Monocle pseudotime plot according to MC subcluster. g The expression of genes in a branch-dependent manner. Each row indicates the standardized kinetic curve of a gene. The center of the heatmap shows the kinetic curve value at the root of the trajectory. From the center to the right of the heatmap, the kinetic curve progresses from the root along the trajectory to fate 1. Starting from the left, the curve progresses from the root to fate 2. h Pseudotime kinetics of the indicated selected genes from the root of the trajectory to fate 1 and fate 2.