Description
To identify key genes that define surface airway epithelial (SAE) basal cells, we FACS isolated basal, ciliated, and club cell populations as previously reported (Zhao et al., 2014; PMID: 25043474) and performed microarray analysis on isolated mRNA. For fractionating SAE into basal, club, and ciliated populations, cells were stained with EpCAM-PECy7 (eBiosciences), GSI4-FITC (Sigma), SSEA1-Alexa Fluor 647 (BioLegend), and CD24-PE (BD Pharmingen) for 30 minutes on ice as previously described (Zhao et al., 2014), prior to FACS. Basal cells were considered EpCAM+ and GSI4+. Secretory cells were considered EpCAM+ and SSEA1+. Ciliated cells were considered EpCAM+, GSI4- and CD24+.