Extended Data Fig. 10: Conserved and species-specific specialization of alveolar capillary cells.
a, Dot plots showing log-transformed average expression levels and percent expression in aerocytes (aCap) and gCap cells for selected genes with known physiological and immune functions, ligands and receptors or co-receptors and transcription factors, which are differentially expressed by the two capillary cell types in adult mouse lung (Tabula Muris scRNA-seq Smart-Seq2 data13) or human lung (Human Lung Cell Atlas16; droplet (10X) or Smart-Seq2 data; 75-year-old man). b, Selected differentially expressed genes in the human lung with known functions. c–e, Diagrams of selected proposed specialized alveolar capillary functions. Selected genes involved in leukocyte trafficking and vasomotor control47 (see legend to Fig. 3d) show the same specialized expression pattern in mouse and human (c; type 0), whereas some genes involved in haemostasis show specialized expression only in the human lung (d; type 1), and some antigen-presenting genes48 show specialized expression that switches cell type between mouse and human (e; type 2). Blue, genes expressed in aerocytes; green, genes expressed in gCap cells; yellow, genes expressed in both aerocytes and gCap cells; purple, genes expressed in pericytes16.
